Local art students curate upcoming West Virginia-inspired exhibit at the Clay Center
Release Date:
3/17/2010 1:00:00 PM
Dateline (city):
Charleston
Contact:
Katie Wootton
kwootton@theclaycenter.org
Local art students curate upcoming West Virginia-inspired exhibit at the Clay Center
(Charleston, W.Va.) 3/17/10 – Experience the Mountain State in a whole new way as art students from Charleston Catholic High School take over the Clay Center gallery. Wildly Wonderful and Wonderfully Wild, an exhibit showcasing West Virginia related artwork from the Clay Center’s Permanent Collection selected and arranged by the students, will be on display April 3 through July 25.
This collection will include the works of artists from West Virginia or works inspired by the Mountain State. Art chosen by the classes will include student-created labels further interpreting the pieces and why the group selected them for the show.
Under the direction of art instructor Rebecca Burch and Clay Center staff, the art classes of Charleston Catholic High School began this exciting and educational project in November 2009. By researching the Clay Center’s online gallery and visiting the actual gallery and collection vault, the students selected their favorite works from the permanent collection to start their assignment. Through studying the artwork, choosing a theme, constructing a scale replica of the Clay Center art gallery and hanging miniature copies of the art, they have created an original exhibit that delivers a fresh perspective on some classic artwork.
“When I was asked to bring my students into the Clay Center to help curate an exhibit from the permanent collection, the elegance of the opportunity struck me,” said Burch. “Each student contributed something to the project; the title, or a design for the exhibit graphics, or the scale for the model we built of the gallery space or a suggestion of a painting to include. When I look at this exhibit, I see a little bit of each student included in it.”
Burch said the students have not only enjoyed the time they’ve spent working with the Clay Center for this exhibit, but they have also seen how the skills they’ve learned in the classroom translate into skills used by professionals in the workplace. As one student put it, “This has been the lesson of a lifetime!”
For more information, visit www.theclaycenter.org, or call 304-561-3570.