Each spring, all three of Harker’s campuses hold art shows, giving students age-appropriate venues in which to display the special works they have completed throughout the year. The middle school art show is unique in that it hosts its opening reception off-site, over at the upper school.
Following a well-attended reception for the artists held in March, Harker’s middle school spring art exhibit officially went on display in the upper school’s main office lobby.
The beautiful gallery-style showing featured select student work of colorful paintings, ceramics, figurines, wire sculptures and mobiles. After a brief run on the Saratoga campus, it will be relocated to the Blackford multipurpose room.
Among the items on display were animal-themed ceramics, playful illustrations of sneakers and high-heeled shoes, small canvas paintings held on stands, intricate hanging glass designs and an array of sculptures depicting familiar scenes, including that of a diner.
In May, the middle school will host an end-of-the-year art exhibit at its Blackford campus, which is all-inclusive and will run through that month with an opening afternoon reception held on May 6.
According to art instructor Elizabeth Saltos, the middle school spring art exhibit (as opposed to the upcoming end-of-the-year exhibit) is equivalent to the AP art exhibit at the upper school in that it is a juried show.
“It involves all middle school grades but focuses on eighth because they soon will be at Saratoga. If there were a theme it would be ‘the most successful art evaluated in terms of aesthetics, craftsmanship, creativity and artistic merit.’ The work demonstrates the students’ experience through the exploration of the lesson parameters, and the end result shows their ability to transform materials into their own artistic statements, sometimes not an easy thing. It was very difficult to select out work,” she said, adding that it has been a “wonderful year for artwork” at the middle school.
Harker has long held an excellent reputation in the local art community (and beyond) for providing students with exceptional visual arts offerings. In the lower and middle schools, students learn drawing, printmaking, painting, woodworking, carving, ceramics and art history. In the upper school, fine art students can choose Study of Visual Arts as their mandatory yearlong arts survey course and select from a variety of drawing vehicles, as well as stone carving, bronze casting, ceramics and architecture.