A Young Perspective

Students talk about life, art and exhibiting at ACO

Danielle Schaal, 15, works on drawings of a sand biscuit in Dawn Graham’s art class at Har-Ber High School. Graham’s students will be among those entering the 30th annual Northwest Arkansas Senior High Art Competition at ACO.

Danielle Schaal, 15, works on drawings of a sand biscuit in Dawn Graham’s art class at Har-Ber High School. Graham’s students will be among those entering the 30th annual Northwest Arkansas Senior High Art Competition at ACO.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Everybody in Dawn Graham’s second-hour art class at Springdale’s Har-Ber High School is there for the same reason: They enjoy making art.

For some of them, that means hopes for a career in something like graphic design or art education. For others, it means pursuing art as a hobby.

But all of them know that the opportunity to show their art at a venue like the Arts Center of the Ozarks is not one to be taken lightly.

On a recent Friday morning, the students paused in their “visual dissections” of seashells and biological samples to talk about art with their instructor and Eve Smith, visual arts director at ACO.

Graham started the discussion by explaining her own passion for art.

“I wasn’t a good student,” she said. “I had attention problems. But art was a place I could always focus. I continue to make art now because if I don’t, it feels like I’m not being true to my calling.

“Besides,” she added, “I love to try new things, and this is a place where I safely can.”

Lately, Graham said, she’s been experimenting with stone carving and encaustic painting - which involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added, then shaping the mixture before it cools. She prefers three-dimensional art, she said, but not all her students agreed.

Tabitha Lewis, 16, said she’s “not a 3-D girl,” but she does hope to find a way to do both art and music as an adult - perhaps teaching art or working as a band director. Anders Horne, also 16, wants to move into graphic novels.

Elizabeth Harp, 16, is “heavily involved” in the school newspaper and sees art as a practical extension of that field.

And Bailey Parks, 16, has “a really big imagination” which he hopes to channel into graphic design. “It’s a way I can express my ideas without being incredibly random.”

Smith told the students she tried to redirect her art into teaching but found she just couldn’t give up time in the studio. As a single mom of three, shedetermined to find a way to support herself with her art and discovered she loved the process of curating art for a facility like the ACO. As director of visual arts, she schedules shows to fill 9,000 square feet of gallery space, alongwith putting together a curriculum for three classrooms.

“We get more feedback on student shows than almost anything we do in visual arts,” Smith said. “People love to see the work of young artists.”

This year marks the 30th annual Northwest Arkansas Senior High Art Competition for students in ninth through 12th grades, Smith said, and she expects entries will fill both the upstairs and downstairs ACO galleries to capacity. A reception from 1 to 3 p.m.

Feb. 9 will let students see first hand what it’s like to “show your work in a major gallery.”

Nick Pando, 17, said art is something he learned to do out of boredom and continues to do because he developed a passion for it.

“I want to go into something like civil engineering where I can use the practical applications of art,” he said, “but it’s something I do all the time for fun.”

Whats Up, Pages 18 on 02/01/2013