A-C Valley Student Art Exhibit 2018

Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts is proud to be partnering with the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Schools for a fourth  year, presenting an exhibit of more than 100 artworks by Allegheny-Clarion Valley Jr. and Sr. High School students from April 7 to 15, 2018, on the second floor of the Red Brick Gallery on Main Street in Foxburg.  

The exhibit will run Saturdays and Sundays for two weekends, from Saturday, April 7 through Sunday, April 15.  Gallery hours are Saturdays, 11 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.  Parents and the public are invited to an Opening Reception from 11 to 7 PM on Saturday, April 7 and from 12 noon to 4 PM on Sunday, April  8, pior to the ARCA 3:00 PM concert, HeartStrings:  East Meets West. 

This exhibit is part of ARCA’s Educational ArtReach program, bringing celebrated artists and seasoned teaching artists to conduct residencies in the A-C Valley Schools and showcasing the artwork of Jr. and Sr. High School students in exhibits at the Red Brick Gallery.

In their educational process, more than one hundred students in A-C Valley High School art teacher, Anita Allen’s classes have employed the long-standing practice, dating back to the masters of western art, of doing copies of works of art as a study in composition and craftsmanship. They have created artwork that is delightfully diverse and excellent in its reproduction of a wide spectrum of images in various media: Acrylic, watercolor, pastels, tempera, scratchboard, acrylic on slate, charcoal, marker, India ink – plus three-dimensional art including ceramics, pottery and sculptures.

“Students have been working on their art for this exhibit throughout the year,” said Anita Allen. “It’s amazing to witness their creative process in the various media in which they have worked.  I am grateful that ARCA is exhibiting their art in the Red Brick Gallery again this Spring.  It’s important for the students to see their artwork displayed publicly.  Our community, without a doubt, will get a true idea of the artistic skills our kids have when they see the quality and creativity of this exhibit.”

This is the fourth exhibit of A-C Valley student art at the Gallery hung by Red Brick Artistic Director, Donna Edmonds, who said, “The Gallery opened its 2015 season for the first time with an A-C Valley Student exhibit. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was phenomenal. The work was vibrant and explosive! And many people in the community were introduced to the Red Brick Gallery by the lure of viewing the art of a student known to them. We encourage everyone to take a few minutes to drop by to support the students. It’s a great experience that leaves everyone with a sense of awe for the freshness and talent of these young artists.”

Superintendent of the A-C Valley School District, David McDeavitt said, “It makes me very happy to have a local organization such as ARCA helping to support our educational system.  Opportunities like the Red Brick Gallery provide our students with learning opportunities that extend past the classroom and into the community.  One of our goals at A-C Valley is to develop our students into productive members of society and this program does just that!”

The ARCA Board of Directors is grateful to Red Brick Gallery Artistic Director, Donna Edmonds, for her generosity and expertise in hanging this exhibit of A-C Valley student art this spring.

ARCA thanks the A-C Valley School Board, Superintendent David McDeavitt, Principal Bill Jordan, Staff and Faculty including Anita Allen and R.J. Feicht for their partnership.

What is the secret of talent? And how do you unlock it?

Daniel Coyle’s bestseller “The Talent Code” defies the notion that you either have talent or you don’t (fill in the blanks with art, sports, math, music and just about anything including your golf swing and your child’s batting average). Its subtitle says it all: “GREATNESS IS NOT BORN. IT’S GROWN”.

From first hand research traveling the world to nine hotbeds of athletic and artistic talent combined with cutting edge neurological research, Coyle discovered three keys to grow talent by tapping into a newly discovered brain mechanism called myelin: Deep practice, Ignition (or motivation) and Master coaching.

Coyle discovered these training tools at use in a rundown tennis club in a freezing climate in Russia with one indoor court, which has produced more top-20 women players than the entire United States. The keys also were evident in Leeds, England where an elementary schoolteacher transformed a former soccer backwater into a veritable factory of talented players utilizing a Brazilian indoor soccer game (futbol de salao) that had helped create one of the world’s greatest players: Ronaldinho of Brazil.

What does this have to do with the exhibit of Allegheny-Clarion Valley student art at the Red Brick Gallery in Foxburg from April 7 to 15?

John Hetrick and Lexie Slater

Something very special has been going on for many years in the small classroom of veteran A-C Valley High School art teacher Anita Allen. Walk into her space – a full fledged artist’s studio – and witness inspired creativity from pottery cooling on a table to linoleum prints hanging to dry and students at tables around the room working in a variety of media from watercolors and acrylics to charcoal and pastels.

If you look closely you will see all three Talent Code keys at work in students who are engaged in hands on deep practice, motivated by the artwork they are seeking to replicate and what they will do with it when finished, and receiving master coaching on techniques and skill building from Allen. Yes – it is non-traditional in an academic sense but one of the best metaphors for life long achievement based on the insatiable desire to become “better”.

The results of Anita Allen’s coaching of this exuberant artistic creativity are similarly remarkable. Five seniors who have taken art throughout high school are going on to study art next year at the Pittsburgh Technical Institute and La Roche College… and that’s just the 2018 graduating class. Allen’s art classes become meaningful vocational training for employment in graphic and computer design. One hopes that when Anita Allen takes her retirement in the next few years that the A-C Valley School System will honor her legacy by insuring that art instruction continues for grades 7 to 12.

 

LinkedInPrint