Elmhurst College art exhibition honors high school artists

Elmhurst College will celebrate young artists and public school art programs when it sponsors the 13th annual High School Exhibition starting Thursday, Jan. 5.

The two-week exhibition, with artwork submitted by 10 high schools, will feature hundreds of paintings, prints, sculptures, videos and pieces of computer art and works in other media.

Patrick Page, an art teacher at Lyons Township High School, says the exhibition is a prized opportunity to show the breadth of what the school’s art department offers.

“In 3-D we submit work in jewelry, metals and ceramics, and in 2-D we submit photography, digital media, painting, drawing and printmaking,” he said. “We also try to include works that might not fit well in other shows — for example, we might include a large sculptural head about 4 feet high.”

While Lyons Township will show work from 40 to 50 students, other schools are drastically scaling back their efforts because of budget cuts to their art programs.

“It makes having our art exhibit even more important because it highlights and supports high school art departments, visual-arts educators and the work of their students,” said Suellen Rocca, director of exhibits at Elmhurst College.

The high schools that will be represented include:

Ÿ Addison Trail;

Ÿ East Leyden in Franklin Park and West Leyden in Northlake;

Ÿ Lyons Township in Western Springs and LaGrange;

Ÿ Maine West in Des Plaines;

Ÿ Morton East in Cicero and Morton West in Berwyn;

Ÿ Proviso West in Hillside;

Ÿ Willowbrook in Villa Park;

Ÿ and York in Elmhurst.

During the exhibition, students will visit the college’s art studios and tour its collection of Chicago Imagist and Abstractionist art. The college also will award several $2,000 scholarships to students from each high school.

“We support the importance of access to visual art in our schools,” Rocca said. “In this era of cutbacks in arts education, we want to make the strongest statement possible about how essential art is to human development.”

The exhibition will run from Jan. 5 through Jan. 18 in the Founders Lounge of the Frick Center, 190 Prospect Ave., Elmhurst.

A reception for the artists will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 11 in the Founders Lounge.

Both the exhibition and the reception are free and open to the public.

The High School Exhibition is one of roughly a dozen shows Elmhurst College will present this academic year in three campus venues. For details, contact Rocca at (630) 617-6110 or srocca@elmhurst.edu.

If you go

What: 13th annual High School Exhibition for high school artists

When: Jan. 5-18

Where: Founders Lounge of the Frick Center at Elmhurst College, 190 Prospect Ave.

Cost: Free

Info: (630) 617-6110 or srocca@elmhurst.edu