Around the Corner–Follow-Up Visit to Steinmetz Academic Centre High School

12 May Around the Corner–Follow-Up Visit to Steinmetz Academic Centre High School

When I returned to Steinmetz a couple of weeks ago, some works for the Around the Corner exhibit were done, and some were being completed for what one student called “the dream show.” During my previous visit in March the students were just getting started on their pieces.

Even though the subject matter varies across the pieces, most of the works seem to share a color palette,  which gives them a pleasing unity.

This triptych employs soft blues and greens to show evolution—the sea at the bottom, the Earth in the middle, and space at the top with technological artifacts.

Several students have been working on a large canvas. It had paint on it from last year, but “we are building our future onto it.”

Their contributions are diverse. One artist used neon colors to paint a character with a tube coming out of her head for a dream. She is a xenomorph—an alien being. Another had sketched some elaborate figures to put in the piece, but the teacher suggested that she simplify. So she is using thin white paint, almost a wash, to add figures that the viewer will have to really look at to pick out from the background. She explained, “Michelle’s character [the neon character] is out there—it’s bright and colorful, because Michelle wants to be an animator. I’m different. I want to find a home and settle down. But it’s fun to do stuff together.”

Here an artist is working on what may be an individual piece or become a collaboration. We will find out at the exhibit on Saturday.

Teacher Keith Pollok decided to participate in Around the Corner because the students have a sense of pride when they hear comments about their artwork from people who aren’t friends and relatives.

He personally enjoys seeing students progress from freshman to senior, from someone who might say “I can’t draw” to someone who has learned and practiced and has become proficient.