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 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.
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.”
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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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