On April 17, students involved in the art program traveled to the Hot Shops Art Center to view their displayed artwork at the Eastern Midlands Conference show. Students took the day to walk through the gallery then attend an awards ceremony, hosted by the EPS school district.
“Because this year was the first year that Elkhorn was hosting, Mrs. Lucks and Rosonke got to hand out the awards.” senior Bella Thoreen said.
EMC features a wide variety of artists from multiple school districts, which allows the students to view a gallery of art created by other individuals their own age. This provides the students an opportunity to meet and talk with local artists.
“They have exhibits from people who have actual shops at Hot Shops,” senior Elena Koske said. “Those are super cool because you get to see artists who do it as a profession, and it is definitely an awesome experience all around.”
When deciding what pieces to submit, art teachers get together and look at the work that had been created throughout the year.
“It’s just a process of trying to figure out which pieces we think display well, and we also have to look for a range of different styles of artwork,” art teacher Maddie Rosonke said. “We try to include different age groups of kids, so it’s not just all seniors, and we have some of our freshman abilities as well.”
Getting their artwork displayed at EMC also opens up opportunities for student artists to sell their artwork.
Currently, senior Katelyn Hughes is in the process of selling her art after an interested buyer viewed her art piece titled “Kiss my splash,” when it was on display.
“When someone has to be interested in buying your artwork, they’ll ask you what you’re thinking about for the offer, a certain amount for the actual physical art piece or the print,” Hughes said. “Depending on whether they want the print or the original, the price is drastically different. For the actual piece, it’s usually around 230 dollars spending on the size, but for a print, it’s usually 150 or less, and there’s a lot of negotiating involved.”
Involvement with the EMC art show is a good way for students to take their passion for art beyond the walls of an art classroom. It allows students to branch out and meet other artists who share their same interests.
“It’s definitely my favorite day of the school year every year.” Koske said, “It’s one of the few things at Elkhorn North that is 100% focused on art, so that makes it a really awesome environment to be in, especially since it’s so rare for us to get to do that.”
