Artwork produced by Northport Public School students will be on display for the public to view at the Northport Art Association (NAA) building on Thursday, May 16.
The open house art exhibition titled “J is for Juxtaposition” features over 200 unique pieces from Northport students in grades K-12, and includes a mix of art through various mediums, such as paintings, pottery, and sculptures. The school-wide project, which was made possible through NAA and the Gene and Judy Rantz Youth Fund, has been something that students have been working on since January.
“I always like getting the kids into the community and the community into the school. I’m excited that the kids will at least be able to see their artwork hanging up at a professional gallery and be proud of it,” said Northport school art teacher Jenny Evans. “There’s just a whole lot of exciting artwork that’s going to be on display.”
The theme “J is for juxtaposition” is intended to allow students to explore different aspects within each theme. Evans said the kindergartners, for example, worked with a high contrast theme (black and white), while the second graders focused on complimentary colors using opposite colors on the color wheel. The older students worked on understanding deeper concepts of juxtaposition such as the middle schoolers studying the surrealist movement and artists like Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. High school students produced collages, masks, and sculptures.
Three different posters to advertise for the art exhibit were also designed by Northport students: kindergartener Gianna Anderson, 10th grader Desi Wetherbee, and 8th grader Hailey Fasel. The K-12 poster competition helped the students learn about the process of organizing a full art production, and the poster winners will be able to include their accolades in their resumes and have their original pieces framed.
“I think it’s really important to have real world experiences for the kids. I can hang their stuff on the walls in the building… but that doesn’t reach the people outside our community, and it also doesn’t give them that feeling of gallery track lighting with the name tag or the art statements,” Evans explained. “A lot of them have really deep meanings behind their piece… The purpose of a school is to set kids up to be productive citizens in our world, so we want to give them that taste of what it feels like to be a professional artist — all the parts of a real gallery experience, they’ll be a part of.”
The exhibit opening and celebration is on May 16 from 4-7 p.m. at the NAA village arts building, however, people can also stop by to view student artwork on display on May 17-19 from 12-4 p.m.