High school talent showcased on campus

­­­­­The fifth annual Northern Utah High School Art Exhibition will display almost 200 original pieces of artwork March 12-26 at Weber State University’s Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery.
WSU began hosting the exhibition to give students north of Salt Lake the opportunity to participate in a lar­­­ge regional art show.
“There’s a show in Springville that’s pretty big, but that’s a pretty far drive for anyone up here,” said Lydia Gravis, the outreach coordinator for the Visual Arts Department. “So we wanted to offer an opportunity for northern Utah high school artists to have a chance to exhibit in a profes­sional exhibition space.”
Artists from high schools all over Utah applied to have their work showcased in the gallery. A total of 556 entries were received and only 196 pieces made it through the final cut.
“The competition’s pretty heavy, so just to get into the exhibit is pretty competitive,” Gravis said. “We really try to pare it down to the best solid show out of all those 500-plus pieces of art.”
The pieces were made from different media, including 2D and 3D art. Photography, sculptures and jewelry will also be displayed.
“Some of the artwork is very much on a college level,” Gravis said. “I think by looking at the pieces in the gallery it’s going to be pretty evident how hard the artist has worked on some of these pieces. I think it’s evident if you look closely at them how hard the high school students have worked and how much talent there can be on a high school level.”
Art professors from the University of Utah, Brigham Young University and WSU judged the artwork submitted. The jurors looked for specific elements while judging the pieces.
“It’s a balance between proficiency with the technical aspects of making art, the materials, how they handle the materials and how they portray the image,” Gravis said. “It’s also original ideas, creativity (and) a kind of mix between those things.”
The department chair for visual arts, Jim Jacobs, said good artwork radiates uniqueness, is well structured and shows the artist’s vision.
“It’s the combination between what they’re doing with their medium in relationship to their idea and how the two go together and support each other,” Jacobs said. “I think sometimes people think it’s just skill with a medium, but it’s not necessarily skill. It’s skill in how they communicate their idea and how they communicate their personal vision.”
Sarah Zimmer graduated from WSU in May 2009 with a visual arts degree. When she was in high school, she entered a high school art show in Springville, but was not accepted. Since then, she’s helped with many art galleries.
“I’ve seen some high school students’ art that’s better than stuff I see people in college doing for our majors,” Zimmer said. “It can make the students realize, ‘Oh, I can do this,’ like, ‘I am good.’”
Zimmer also said giving high school students the opportunity to exhibit their work at a college is a big deal. She said having a juror who isn’t the student’s teacher or friend should give artists a sense of pride.
“I think it’ll mean more to them to get in and to say, ‘Somebody who has no idea who I am thought this was good,’” she said. “I think the high school show is the first chance for these people to have an objective opinion of their art.”
Some of the art featured in the gallery will also win special awards.
“We do a Best of Show award,” Gravis said. “It looks like it’s going to be a cash prize in the $150 to $200 range. Then we have Best 2D, Best 3D, Best Photography and Best Jewelry. Then we have a handful of honorable mentions.”
The students’ work can be seen Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.