Presentation is Everything!

The scene at the Arts and Cultural Council of Greater Rochester was buzzing this past Friday night! As I walked into the gallery live  jazz music energized the crowd and art lovers of all ages perused the work.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that Holly's piece below, "Caught Up," was front and center as the first impression of anyone who entered the gallery. As I talked to her and her family I saw at least 3 strangers taking pictures of this piece.

David Semple, who helped to set up the show, asked Holly how she felt about the diagonal hanging of her work. In school, this piece had been flat on a table. David informed us that as they set up the show they made a separate stop to run out and get the cord to hang this. Presentation is everything!  The lights, the diagonal, the placement at the front of the gallery all made this piece pop out and take on more significance than it ever could have in the school display case!

(Photo credit: Lauren Reinert)

Seconds later one of the jurors of this exhibit, a seasoned photographer who was currently working on a series with a very similar theme, approached Holly and challenged her to think about creating a series of pieces exploring this same concept with a larger size, scale, and extended study of the inner and outward struggle that is universal to all humans. I stood back and I watched as families, aunts, cousins, uncles, and the community came and supported all of our student artists in a way that was truly inspiring. I beamed with pride alongside the parents and artists who got just a sampling of a bit of the talent held within these rising bundles of walking inspiration. The future is truly in their hands.

There were a total of 24 pieces highlighted in this juried show and only 3 pieces were created by high school students. Two of those were from Irondequoit, and the other one was a beautiful raku piece by a home schooled student. The remainder of works were created by college and graduate school art students. Refreshingly, the exhibition cards only showed the student name, title and media of the work. The pieces created were intermingled, and it did not say what school the students attended. I must say, our high schoolers held their own in this exhibit despite their youth in comparison to the other artists showcased here. The show will be on exhibit through November 26th. Gallery hours are 10-4 weekdays.

Another work from the show (not my student) pictured below. This was made entirely out of legos!