ART WALK: Renton High School’s student exhibits
April 6, 2018
Thursday, April 5th, Renton High School’s IB Art students shared their exhibits with the public in a spectacular event full of color and purpose. The projects were correlated to different skill sets and muses which the students studied over the last 2 years. The students brought collections of artwork ranging from paintings, photography, sketches, jewelry and much more.
The Essence of Renton, the RHS culinary club, was there serving food alongside the artists. The Ambassadors Club was also present and helped to setup and host the art walk event.
Upon speaking with Ms. Squire, IB Visual Arts, Visual Arts, and Ceramics teacher at RHS, she shared the vision and goal behind their projects.
“They each are putting together their own exhibition, that have their own stated intentions, that correlate to artists and time periods studied— the exhibit is basically going to be a culminating project that shows how they have developed their skills in alignment with those other artists,” explains Squire.
She also explained how artistically advanced the students are as they are “designing” and “developing” the immaculate collections on their own. In addition, the students have a special kind of dedication to the program as it is an “intensified class,” being a International Baccalaureate course.
For students and guests who attended the event, they had the opportunity to interact with the artists, all the while asking questions about their art and the IB Art program.
It was fascinating to learn about the artists’ inspirations and hear about the individualized processes. For example, upon talking with senior Joliza Lewis, she explained how important it is for her to share the stories behind her work and the views she strives to convey.
“I feel like my art is a platform where I can share my feelings and what I’m passionate about. So, my overall theme for this exhibit is feminism, cause I’m personally very passionate about it,” shared Lewis.
Through her art, she is able to make a statement and change the way people think.
Lewis also shared her abstract rendition where she described a photograph in representation of “the stereotypical teenage girl,” and telling about the correlation to her life experiences. With messages like these, stigmas about girls can be rendered, or at least better understood.
Iftin Mohamed also shared her very beautiful and simplistic floral paintings. She used variation in her petals and different forms of flowers to express her undying love of nature. She described her theme as “Simple Beautification,” because she loves minimalist artwork. Iftin also shared the message she conveys through her exhibit.
“Flowers aren’t really simple, you can view them in depth; and see them in a whole different view,” explained Iftin.
Her artwork can be interpreted in many different ways, but her immaculate spin on perfect, yet simple things, allows people to perceive her art in whichever way applies to them.
Tai Anthony McMillan, another artist at the event, gave out brochures to follow along with his exhibit—which was described as an “Art Collective Self Portrait.” Through his work, McMillan manages to create the story of his life by conveying his personal experiences into the artwork. On his brochure, he went into detail, explaining the pieces of art and how they connect to either his life or dreams. He also gave a bit of context as to the message he wished to pass on with pieces titled Cultural Identity, Human, Dream Whip, and others. He wrote an explanation, summing up the thought behind his collection.
“My exhibit will bring you through a visual representation of some of my thoughts, my future goals, my feelings, and my identity,” McMillan wrote.
McMillan’s work is thoughtful and relatable, as he connects parts of his life in text format alongside the artwork. It also allows others to really understand the story behind each piece.
Overall, Renton’s Art Walk, was beautifully done with spectacular artists and unique concepts. Events like these are always important as they display the tireless work of talented young people who have grown as students and as individuals at Renton.
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