West Linn-Wilsonville School District artists had their moment to shine in the recent ‘Make Your Mark’ showcase, the first one back since the COVID pandemic.
Bringing together the art of eight schools, the showcase highlighted the work of kindergarten all the way up to high school seniors. Pieces coming from Athey Creek, Rosemont, Boones Ferry, Lowrie, Beockman, West Linn, Riverside, Wood, and obviously Wilsonville. Various medias represented through paintings, sculptures, dioramas, photography, and more!
Alannys Townsend’s piece titled ‘At What Cost?’ dives into a deeper meaning with each stroke of the canvas, a need to use her voice to create something socially involved.
Townsend describes her painting as “inspired heavily by the current state of the U.S.’s government. My mom is an immigrant, I will be of legal age to vote soon, and I am a woman, even if I’m young.”
“This painting is about the greed that has been shown by our government and the injustices that have been forced upon those who don’t live up to one standard,” she explains.
While most portraits end on the front, hers continues around, “On the back of this painting, you can read off what exact events have sparked my thoughts. ‘At What Cost?’ references every single one of these situations because these are the cost.”
Kalia Huff’s celebration of art started as many art projects do: an assignment from Ms. Escobar. The first step, building a “mood board” on Google Slides, exploring the many real features of creatures in our world to create a surreal alebrije hybrid.
Huff wanted to create a mix of “a nudibranch [sea bunnies], fennec fox, and a baby snow seal.”
(Ethan Spisak)
Forming a color scheme, taking inspiration from the natural colors of the animals, “especially the nudibranch, considering how colorful they are and how alebrijes are often colorful.”
The students then took their digital designs and created 2D designs, which led to their 3D versions, created with a variety of materials. Her creature needed a name and Huff knew it “needed to be angelic and pretty, so I decided on Ambriel.”
Continuing to celebrate every type of artist’s ability to “make their mark,” the art show also featured large canvases decorated to the likeness of notebook paper. Art show goers were encouraged to make their mark with paint pens provided, doodling and drawing all over the canvas.
Community coming together both to observe and create art, the art show successfully recognized the many talented artists in our district.
Allowing the creation of art to be more than just an individual activity, but rather a gathering of people all enjoying the many talents of themselves and those around them.
