Students learn to how to prepare for juried exhibit
Area high school students have taken plenty of field trips to art galleries to see professional artwork, but now it's their turn to put their creativity on display.
The inaugural Juried High School Art Show featuring the work of Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley students will be from 7 to 10 p.m. today at Chic Art Boutique, 3124 S. Route 59, Suite 148, in Naperville. The free public reception is catered by Francesca's Passaggio.
More than 40 pieces of art will be on display, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and photos, and their creators will be on hand to discuss the pieces.
"We wanted to set up an opportunity where it's as if kids are professional artists themselves approaching a professional gallery to set up a show and this is the process they'd follow," Neuqua art teacher Steve Jones said.
Five students also will take part in hanging and placing the pieces at the gallery today to learn how curators make decisions about displaying artwork.
Jones and Waubonsie art teacher Nick Gehl coordinated the event with Chic Art Boutique's assistant manager, Mel Keiser, a 2003 Neuqua graduate.
Throughout the semester, Keiser and other Neuqua graduates have been helping students with their art from coming up with conceptual ideas to feeling comfortable with being critiqued.
Having their talent on display in a gallery is the icing on the cake.
"Seeing your work up and hearing what (people) have to say about it, that's an artist's reward, displaying it in public," Keiser said.
Serving as jurors are artists Nancy Rosen, Charlie Michaels and North Central College professor Barry Skurkis, who narrowed the entries from more than 100 to about 40 for the show and will announce the top pieces at 7:30 p.m. today.
Keiser said the jurors will be looking for a "mixture of mastery of technical skill and the presentation of conceptual ideas."
"They're kind of looking for a marriage between a nice-looking piece and a piece that communicates something well," she said.
The top artists will have their work on display at Chic for a month and also will win gift certificates from the gallery, Anderson's Bookshop or Buikema Ace Hardware.
Keiser and Jones both said they are impressed with the work students have done.
"It's the same extension of what happens in other disciplines in school," Jones said. "If you get enthusiastic parent support and highly motivated students and give them the correct forum and guidance, it's pretty amazing what they come up with."
If you go
What: Juried High School Art Show
When: 7 to 10 p.m. today, with awards at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Chic Art Boutique, 3124 S. Route 59, Naperville
Info: (630) 428-3431