Saturday, March 03, 2012

POAC Student Art Show


It's been a crazy busy week, partly because of my involvement with POAC's Visual Arts Committee. We annually mount a student art show that includes 5 public and private schools in the area. It's the biggest show we hang, and this year was perhaps the biggest yet with a total of about 300 individual pieces of art. Much of the art is only matted and so attached to the wall with pushpins as in the photo above. I don't know how many pushpins I pushed in, many resisting my efforts, but after 5 hours, I was pretty beaten up. Thumbs and arms still hurting 4 days later, but we all agree, this is so worth doing for the kids. I've picked a few of my favorites to share here, and if you'd like to see more, you can view them on POAC's Facebook page here. I'm not sure why the piece above captivated me so - I'm tempted to say it is my favorite, yet I can't imagine actually having it on the wall anywhere in my house. It's done with water soluble pencil.


POAC does not keep any money from sales at this exhibit - it all goes back to the kids and the schools' art programs. However, a lot of the art is not for sale which I surely can understand. What is for sale is often $25 or less, so very affordable. Still, I was thwarted at every turn as I found pieces I liked like the pottery bowl above only to see NFS on the card.


Here's one the was for sale, but I was not quick enough to get my dibs in. Another volunteer and I were sorting through a stack of paintings and we both gasped as this acrylic was revealed. Neither of us can pinpoint exactly what it is that is so compelling to us, but she managed to spit out, "I'm buying this" almost before she quit gasping.


I would have settled for the scene on the upper right instead, but yes, NFS. I first spotted it as I looked up from the main floor to where it hung on the mezzanine level. From that distance, it stood out from everything else on that wall. It only got better as I got closer. The painting on the lower left is similar (and for sale) but it doesn't have the same impact for me.


I was impressed at several paintings whose colors were so bright and thus really eye catching - no mean feat when dozens of pieces of art end up stacked over and around each other on a wall - or perhaps worse yet, ending up below windows at foot level. This was one of them.


This is an oil, also so very bright and making you think it must be a photograph until you get right on top of it.


There were quite a few 3 dimensional or multi-media works. One of the teachers must have been encouraging students to work with shards of broken glass or mirrors. This triptych is a particularly good use of that, the fireworks being the pieces of mirror.


And finally, here is a small wire sculpture that was another one of those very compelling pieces. There's melted aluminum foil along one side and the gentle "s" curve design creates perfect balance for the piece.

The opening reception was last night (see photos here), and one of the great joys of putting on this show is watching the young artists' excitement as they find their artwork, then drag friends and family over to see. And what about the proud and supportive parents - I love seeing their response too. To add to the excitement, our new mayor attended and announced that she was buying 10 pieces (with her own money) to hang in her office for a year, and then they will be auctioned off to raise money for charity. She too had trouble with the NSF, picking two that she hopes she can convince those students to part with.

And now it's time to get back to my own art.

1 comment:

Amanda said...

A fabulous exhibition. I'm sure, even after helping and being there days, you can still find new things to see.

I'm often attracted to pieces that I wouldn't necessarily want on the wall. I have found it's more often the standard of use of the media or the unusual media itself that talks to me.