High schoolers art foundational and expressive on life

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[May 12, 2015]  LINCOLN - The May art show at the Lincoln Art Institute opened Thursday evening with a reception. The show is a retrospective of Lincoln Community High School student artists’ work from the 2014 and 2015 school year.

LCHS Industrial Arts teacher Jason Hoffman and Art Instructor Jennifer Grimaldi were on hand to welcome a full complement of visitors to the gallery. This is the fourth year that LAI owner Moses Pinkerton has welcomed the high school artists to display their work in the annual show at his gallery in downtown Lincoln.

Entitled “Functional & Fine Arts,” the pieces on display run the gamut from wooden end tables and finely turned wooden bowls to portraits and landscapes on canvas, and ceramics.

Instructor Jason Hoffman said “it was nice to see the artists’ work on display in an art gallery rather than in a dusty classroom at the high school.” He complimented Moses Pinkerton for giving the student artists a premier space to display their works. When the students saw their art on display in the gallery they inevitably broke into huge smiles.

Hoffman has bigger things in mind, though. “Peoria has a juried art show each year with art from all of the high schools in the city. I think it would be great to have the same thing in Lincoln, but with submissions from all of the high school art classes in Logan County,” he said.

Logan County Arts member Mitch Douglas expressed his admiration for the talent on display on the walls of the Lincoln Art Institute. “I hope the parents come to see this show. They can’t help but be proud of the creativity their kids express through their art,” he said.

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When asked why he felt student artists needed an outlet for their talent, LAI owner Moses Pinkerton said “art is the creative cornerstone that all other aspects of life are built on. Even science and engineering take many of their basic tenets from art, from the creative process. We need to help students tap into this creativity.”

LCHS art instructor Jennifer Grimaldi greeted each of her students as they came to see their works on display. “Art is a very personal form of communication. All of the works on the walls of the gallery represent the students’ personal communication, how they see their world,” she said. Grimaldi knows her students well. They are not shy about expressing complex ideas and deep emotional feelings through their art, as evidenced by paintings about depression and parental alcoholism.

“Functional & Fine Art” runs through May 23. Contact the Lincoln Art Institute at 217-651-8355 to arrange a showing.

[Curt Fox]

 

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