Kids do the darnedest things

Christy Schicker
Lifestyles Reporter

The Annual High School Art Exhibition is underway in the New Wagner Gallery of the Art and Design Building.

Juror Nancy N. Rice, Pillsbury Professor of Art, chose 79 pieces out of 259 entires for the show from 39 area schools. Twelve awards were given at the opening March 21.

The first prize, Friends of Art award for $150, went to Caleb Hauck of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School for his painting, "Bear Suit."

"On Assignment," a mixed-media piece by Greg Koch of Riverview Gardens High School, received a $75 Friends of Art award.

"On Assignment" is made of four square panels of illustration board hinged together like a screen. Images of a man's face are printed in different colors in the center of each panel. The faces, smiling and heavily wrinkled, are done using minimal color schemes. Outlines of the features are done in heavy, rough marks like those made from a wood-block print.

The faces are placed against checkerboard backgrounds surrounded by red and black borders. Vein-like marks of black and white, and phrases such as "Who's to say what normal means?" and "what am I doing here?" are spread across the outside borders. The result is a piece that is very personal and highly original.

A photograph by Marietta Rose Berner of Mehlville Senior High School received a $25 Friends of Art award. The photograph titled "Vision" is a double exposure of a girl's face merging into the face of a cat. The girl's head is tilted down, her large eyes look boldly up and her dark hair falls in her face.

The cat's face, looking straight out, has the same bold stare as the girl. As the faces meld, a psychological connection is achieved.

Fernando Dunn of Belleville West High School received a $50 Friends of Art award for his graphite drawing "Untitled." This very realistic image of an African-American boy contains subtle shading on the cheeks along with areas that are more chiseled, such as the lips and nose.

Details, such as the short, tight curls of the hair, the smirking lips almost in a half-smile and the menacing eyes staring at the viewer below arched brows, are well-rendered and subtle. The boy's plaid shirt, more sketchily done, plays up the importance of the head itself.

Placed next to this piece is Brian McNearney's charcoal and chalk drawing "Gestured." McNearney, from Parkway North High School, received a $100 Friends of Art award for the piece. "Gestured" is a portrait very different from Dunn's "Untitled."

The central face is drawn on a toned-ground paper with black charcoal and additive white chalk. Loose, quick and expressive line work is included among areas of shading. The facial features are suggested rather than rendered out completely, focusing more on the immediacy of emotion rather than realistic portrayal.

The exhibit contains many examples of stoneware and clay sculpture. Steve Thompson of O'Fallon Township High School received a $75 Friends of Art award for his clay piece, "Effigy Vessel." The vessel is shaped in a gentle, receding cone shape and contains a protruding face on one side.

Lauren Roberts of Gibault High School has a clay piece in the show titled "Fallen." The piece is a small, shallow dish made of brightly painted clay leaves. "Antique Violin" by E. J. Edgar of Mehlville Senior High School is a stoneware piece with a very finished, refined appearance.

Some excellent examples of black-and-white photography show intriguing abstract compositions using ordinary scenes, dramatic viewpoints and high contrast of light and shadow.

A prismatic color drawing by Duane F. Bachesta of Belleville West High School titled "Innocence Lost" is a very strong piece. The composition is tight and compact with a girl at the center, head tilted down, and her forearms extending upward at the sides like imposing columns. Tightly curled fists rest on her hair, which is done in small strokes of varied color, giving it a shiny appearance.

The girl, with blue pursed lips, a harshly pointed chin and eyes that are large extreme ovals with deep sockets, looks out at the viewer with an accusatory glare.

The composition of the piece, along with the features of the girl, conveys an imposition of strict control, where the arms act as jail-bars. The arms, however, covering the girl's ears, can also be seen as psychological elements of protection.

This exhibit offers a nice array of different styles and media that high school students are working in. While some pieces are humorous or playful, others are introspective, thought-provoking or ironic. The pieces in the show not only prove that these artists are refining technical skills, but also discovering individual styles on the way.

The Annual High School Exhibition will be on display in the New Wagner Gallery through April 6. Gallery Guides listing all the pieces in the show are available in the gallery.

If you can't find time to get over to the art building, you can take an online tour of the exhibit on a Web site designed by Bill Klingensmith, assistant professor of computer graphics. The address is http://www.siue.edu/ART/exhibitions/highschoolshow/index.html.

For more information call Dianne Lynch at the art office at 650-3073.