By Ryan Barich, Executive News Editor
With the endless platters of organic foods and the slow jazz of Esperanza Spalding playing in the background, this year’s senior art show was in full swing. The show opened in the KLC on April 11th and will showcase the best art made throughout the seniors’ careers.
Leading up to the show, art teachers Li Christoffersen and Barbara Shaffer spent all of Monday in frantic preparation for this week’s exhibit. Frantic not only because of the tireless work being put into the show, but because due to SAT testing, this show was coming earlier than ever before.
“We’ve been working on this for weeks now, and things still come down to the wire,” Christoffersen said.
Nevertheless, the artists on display took the time to sort through the hundreds of pieces they’ve created through years of class to design their very own portfolio.
“They’re like my babies, but pinned up on a wall,” senior Cooper Shauer said, “I had to choose my best baby.”
Schauer and his fellow artists all hope that onlooking students see their art and take in that emotion they were trying to impart.
Artists like senior Katharine Owen used her medium to send a message about the government and their harsh immigration policies. Fellow senior Rachel Czarnik conveyed her own journey through her fears and insecurities to try and give the audience a sense of herself.
“Most of my pieces are me,” Czarnik said, “It’s not self centered, it’s connecting more to me and is more personal to me than a portrait.”
Art like this will continue to be apart of these students’ lives, as Czarnik has already been accepted to the Maryland Institute College of Art to study painting and Shauer is looking to study graphic design at the University of Maryland.
The art show will run again all school day on April 12th, along with an after school showing for family members, but will then be dismantled that night until next year’s artists build their portfolios to showcase.
“I’m happiest when students look at their work are proud of all they have accomplished,” Shaffer said.