This April, Mt. Hood Community College has chosen students from the surrounding high school’s art programs to display their art in the college’s annual Visual Arts Exhibit. This year, several art pieces of different media — including paint, charcoal, and sculpture — designed and created by Barlow students were chosen to be displayed. The exhibition celebrates and encourages the artistic voices of high school students. Sharing their art with the local community opens up many opportunities for the students and helps further build their artistic careers. Splayed out across a large room, these art pieces bring in a unique identity and diverse culture, turning once-boring white walls into a beautiful story.
Sam Barlow High has participated in the MHCC Visual Art Exhibition for the past nine years. Previously, the gallery has mixed all forms of art and schools together, but this year, they went a different direction with sectioned works by school, making it much easier to navigate. Amanda Gibson, Barlow’s art teacher, showed future promising art students around the room, giving details about what art class is like and how to grow as an artist. She was also able to collaborate and communicate with art teachers from other schools, find out what’s working, and teach each other new skills. Every year, the college selects artwork based on skills, techniques, and many other criteria instead of the traditional choice of media. Being showcased allows students to grow their art portfolios and include the achievement on their resumes. On Thursday, April 10, the artists participated in a reception where many won awards. None of the artists knew who would win awards beforehand, making the experience much more meaningful.
Combining her love of art and video games, junior Tay Chamberlain’s pencil drawing Resident Evil 7: Guest House grabbed everyone’s attention by the amount of effort put into detail, which helped her earn second place in composition/use of elements. Its eerie and unsettling nature lures people in and can’t be looked away from. The peeling wallpaper, dark hallways, and crumbling wood are so minutiae yet incredibly detailed that the longer you stare, the more uneasy you become. Viewers want to walk away but find themselves drawn deeper in as they see more and more details, such as the face in the frame. Resident Evil 7: Guest House was created in Intro to Art during Chamberlain’s freshman year and was her first perspective piece.
In this exhibition, only four students had multiple works displayed. One of the students was Barlow’s very own Zoe Taylor. Her painting, The Path Home, which won an honorable mention award, and her pottery, New Beginnings, were showcased and caused all wanderers to stop and stare in awe. The Path Home is a sea of brightly colored clouds above a path that stretches across the canvas before disappearing into fluffy trees. This piece was created in Mrs. Gibson’s Painting 1 class and was briefly displayed in the school’s halls. Zoe has the ability to see something so simple or mundane and turn it into something full of color and life. She communicates the world’s naturality through bright, beautiful colors that are entirely expressive of herself and how she views the world. Zoe’s ceramic pitcher, created in Sculpture 2, is based on Sleep Token’s lead singer, Vessel. His dark and mysterious nature fueled her creativity, chaotic and beautiful like the lightning storm painted on the side of the clay. When asked about the process of creating the pitcher, Zoe stated, “I pretty done thunk I wouldn’t like it, but it turned out amazing.”
Chloe Bradley’s Pinnacle Peak, an abstract, mixed-media illustration created in August of last year, is full of color, grabbing the audience’s attention immediately. Because of her unique creativity, the piece won the Best of Show prize, the first at Barlow. Most of the inspiration for this piece came from the techniques of Jesse Reno, a local artist who runs his own workshop. Chloe was fortunate enough to work with him and learn his techniques, incorporating them into the work while still keeping her own design. Her main style is abstract, something that has a different meaning for all. Something that is entirely her own, the style that she leans towards most is neo-expressionism, a rejection of minimal artistic styles. To Bradley, this piece means “an experience of other perspectives and different styles.” Chloe looks at different art styles and picks what she likes and what she can change.
Catch these and other works throughout the 300 hall and in the hallway outside of the TMC.
