Upper School artists are proud to have their artwork currently displayed in Lower Messing thanks to the Arts Council which organized an MICDS student art exhibit for the first time this fall. « This is the first student-led, student-generated, and student-organized inclusive exhibition of student artwork, » shares Dr. Kevin Slivka, Upper School Fine Arts Teacher. Typically, a final exhibition occurs in May to celebrate seniors in AP® and advanced coursework. This fall brought together an additional exhibit of the work of all Upper Schoolers much to the delight of the students, their peers, parents and guardians, faculty, and staff.
« Arts Council came up with this idea at our first meeting of the year in August, and it evolved from there, » details Evie Strope ’25, Arts Council Representative. « We were inspired by Blue Whale, which takes place every year in February to showcase the performing arts. We realized that we did not yet have a similar event for the visual arts, so we decided to plan this event. »
To put the exhibit together, first, the Arts Council had an open call for student artwork made by MICDS Upper School students who desired to show their work as part of a collective exhibit. Students were required to submit digital files along with the details, dimensions, and media used to create the work. After the deadline was met, the works were blind-reviewed by the Arts Council and selections were made based on the quality of the submitted work, if the work was finished or not, and if it was appropriate subject matter for a school context.
Once the pieces were selected and displayed, the Arts Council held the MICDS Student Gallery Opening on Friday, November 15. Many enjoyed perusing the range of masterpieces from paintings and drawings to photography and multimedia works while listening to performances by the Upper School Virtuosi and by a mix of band students from the Seventh and Eighth-Grade Concert Band and the Upper School Pep Band.
- Evie Strope ’25 – « Conformity »
- Emmaus Tzeng ’28 – « You Are My Sunshine »
- Layla Gilbert ’26 – « Dreamscape »
- Tess Thompson ’28 – « The Reality of Hunting »
- Emerson Pook ’26 – Untitled
- Sarah Meade ’26 – « Flower Gradients »
- Natalie Benoist ’25 – « Sailing, » Untitled
- Simera Balci ’28 – « Eternity »
- Sireen Tanoli ’28 – « Self Portrait »
- Macy Lubak ’25 – « Ballerina »
- Mae Scott ’25 – Untitled (both pieces)
- Harper Pook ’28 – « Sunset in Canada »
- Will Fendler ’26 – « Self Portrait, » « Landscape Study »
- Catherine Dawson ’26 – « Elemental »
- Cam Cozad ’27 – « Maxine Alley Scene »
- Nic Benson ’28 – Untitled
- Hale Foster ’25 – « White Bricks »
- Reed Risner ’25 – « Summer, » « Monochrome »
- Andrew Haas ’25 – « Delft, » « Peaks & Valleys, » « In Memory of Gatsby »
- Claire Giokas ’25 – « Wisdom of the Horse, » « A History of Beauty »
- Garrett Liberman ’25 – « Blue Angels »
- Marvel Connolly ’25 – « Artist Self-portrait, » « Panel from Comic »
- Anonymous – Untitled
« I think the gallery opening went really well! » expressed Evie. « Seeing lots of students, parents, and faculty coming together to enjoy the art that MICDS students had created was amazing. I think the highlight of the event was how packed it was. We didn’t have an exact estimate of the number of people planning to attend, so seeing the gallery full of people was a really amazing way to open the show. I’m really grateful to everyone who submitted work or attended the gallery opening. This event would not have been possible without engagement from the MICDS community. »
The show was a great ramp for art students to climb in learning how to submit their work for exhibit. « My piece [in the show] was a photograph of my sister that I took using black and white film for my darkroom photography class last year using double exposure techniques, » describes Evie. « It was so amazing to have my artwork displayed here, and it’s given me the confidence to submit the piece to other shows in the area (and it even got into one!). » Perhaps the experience of this exhibit will open future doors for students to get more of their work shared this way.
« The Arts Council Reps and members were highly organized as they effectively coordinated the call for student work while putting parameters around the submission process, » reflects Dr. Slivka. « In the end, they were successful in curating a diverse grouping of artwork that included photography, painting, drawing, and digital art. »
Bravo to our creative Upper School artists on this first fully student-run exhibit and for each of their creative masterpieces!