Honors Art Show

The Honors Art Show is a student exhibition featuring work by 2D, 3D, Digital Media, and Photography students. Whether it took them a few days or several months, the students’ dedication, hard work, and passion allow the students to pour their hearts and souls into these projects.  Due to the pandemic, however, the logistics of the show were very different from past years. Ms. Ritz, the 3D art teacher, said, “It’s not easy to make art during a difficult time in history, but it is a critical time to make art; we must carry on seeing, feeling, and creating.” 

The art program usually has three to four shows per year which are always jam-packed. This year, the four art departments came together to create just one blended showcase. Head of the Art Department and 2D art teacher, Mr. Love states that this blend was “our little nod to the way the Barnes Foundation exhibit is installed”. The Barnes Foundation utilizes a similar gallery setup by showcasing works done in different mediums in a single room. Due to space limitations, the students couldn’t set up their pieces with the rest of the Upper School artwork, so all honors students selected a range of their best pieces and printed them out digitally, some adding QR codes that were linked to personal websites they had created. They then mounted these up on black presentation paper, completed with an artist statement. 

Being an Honors Art student myself, I have worked directly in preparing the showcase for this year. With all of the stress and anxiety school brings, this class is an escape for me. The unique, expressive, and remarkable environment that the 3D classroom creates has me looking forward to it each day. Being able to work on who I am as a person, in a stress-free environment where thinking beyond the normal boundaries is encouraged, I have developed new perspectives and ways of expressing myself. One of my pieces in the Honors Art show is a mermaid sculpture which I worked diligently on for months. 

Other projects in the showcase include the large-scale screening of Mr. Roman’s video class projects, large projects by Mr. Love’s 2D classes, polished photos from Mr. Wynia’s classes, and symbolic creature busts by Ms. Ritz’s sculpture classes. Mr. Love states that there is “lots of prep and selecting of works. We really want students to be proud of what they are exhibiting, so they do the majority of the selecting and as much as possible help with the install”. 3D teacher, Ms. Ritz, states she is “so impressed with the Honors Students in [the] program. They take pride in their work, and it shows in this exhibit.” Thanks to GA’s amazing art program and dedicated teachers, this showcase was a success.