The pieces are professional, the quality superb. Only the subject matter belies the artists’ adolescence.
Self-portraits in pencil, mixed-media messages and computer-generated cultural commentary line the walls at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, where the 35th annual Jefferson County High Schools Art Exhibit is on display through May 14. More than 500 pieces by students at 19 different schools are included in the show, said director Andy Yutzey.
Each instructor in the district could submit up to 20 student works for consideration, Yutzey said. Seven judges, including two retired art teachers, three college professors and two professional artists, narrowed the field down from 882 pieces submitted for consideration.
The show features work in 13 different categories: drawing, painting, mixed media, ceramics, sculpture, wearable jewelry, non-wearable jewelry, computer graphics, crafts and fibers, handmade books, traditional photography, alternative photography and printmaking.
Yutzey, who teaches ceramics and jewelry at Wheat Ridge High School, put hundreds of hours into the show this year, his fourth as director. Torrey Carlton of Bear Creek High School, Nicole Brown of D’Evelyn High School and Susan Lange of Conifer High School also helped organize the show. The quality of work is difficult to match, Yutzey said.
“It’s a lot of work, but in the end, it’s awesome,” he said.
The Arvada Center has hosted the show for the last 30 years, Gallery Director Jerry Gilmore said.
The show is a prestigious honor for fledgling artists, Yutzey said. More than 65 students won 72 awards at the exhibit’s awards ceremony on April 17. About $6,000 in cash prizes and more than $50,000 in scholarships was awarded this year. The school district and Jefferson County libraries also purchased a few works to display in their buildings, Yutzey said.
Yutzey is no stranger to the show’s honors. He once took home first place in ceramics as a student at Arvada High School. He later student-taught with former Golden High School art teacher Gene Youngman, who once directed the show.
Yutzey chose to teach high school art because of the challenges the students present, he said.
“I can learn just as much from them as I give to them,” he said.
Three years ago, the center added a teachers’ exhibit showcasing work by Jefferson County art instructors. Forty teachers exhibited work in this year’s show, on display in the Arvada Center’s Upper Gallery, Gilmore said.
Paintings, drawings and installation work by elementary, middle and high school teachers remind exhibit visitors that talented practicing artists are teaching in the district, Gilmore said.
“They sacrifice a lot of their art careers to be teachers,” he said.
Tracy Hamm, a photograph and ceramics instructor at Golden High School, is exhibiting some of her work in the teachers’ show while some of her students are in the high school exhibit. As a student, Hamm said she was inspired by her teachers, and wanted to give back as an instructor.
The arts are a vital part of education, Hamm said, and she hopes the school system continues to fund and support them.
“Without that creative outlet, we would lose a lot of students,” she said.