For a month each
year, in January and February, Georgia’s Capitol Hill is flooded with art.
The annual Capitol Art Exhibit, sponsored by the Georgia Art Education Association
(GAEA), brings a display of student works to the Capitol each year. It’s all
displayed in a building that many state agencies, including the GaDOE, call
home. So every year, for a month, visitors and state employees get to pass
through rows of molded sculptures and careful lines and explosions of colorful
paint.
The students
range from elementary to high school, sculptors to sketch artists, aspiring art
students to spare-time crafters. There’s Stilson
Elementary fourth-grader Colby Buchan, whose deer skull drawing was
inspired by a combo of Georgia O’Keeffe paintings and hunting trips with dad.
There’s Level Creek Elementary
kindergartener Camden Cook, who created a construction-paper house, and Union Grove High senior Neil Hancock,
who drew intricate orchids in prismacolor pencil.
Every work
joined a rich tradition – the Capitol Art Exhibit dates back to the early 80s.
It shines a bright spotlight on art education in the state – sharing “with our
legislators and the public the exceptional, creative ability of Georgia’s
students,” according to GAEA.
State School
Superintendent Richard Woods spoke at the reception honoring the students whose
work was displayed, and said the event was a perfect example of the value on
the arts in education.
“This is why I
am an advocate for art education, and why my administration is prioritizing the
arts,” Superintendent Woods said. “Integrating arts instruction into the
curriculum engages students; it helps us to meet them at their level, to meet
them where they learn.”
The exhibit has
never been a competition, organizers say – it’s a showcase. And it comes with a
unique twist: each student who enters is required to write to their state
legislative representatives, which serves as a form of art advocacy and a lesson
for students on the democratic process.
“It can be a
real confidence booster for some students and is a source of pride for all who
have work selected to be in the show,” Union
Grove High art club sponsor Kirby Meng said. “It also helps them with reaching
out to adults, pushing themselves a bit…I think it has meant a great deal to my
students through the years.”
That experience
was meaningful for this year’s student participants, too.
“One of them
sent me a congratulations card in the mail signed by him and his family,”
third-grader Dottie McDaniel said. “It made me feel important. I was happy that
they were able to attend the exhibit and see my work.”
And for many,
the creative experience itself was deeply valuable.
“Art is the
class that I most look forward to each day,” said North Gwinnett High senior Alexandra Sorto. “To be exhibited just
validates my love for this subject.”
Meet the
Students
We thought it
would be fun to get to know the student participants a little better, so we
sent an email out to art teachers and asked them to “interview” their students.
Here are the responses we received.
Raegan Owen, 8th grade, General Ray Davis
Middle School
Teacher: Katy
King
Piece entered:
Baby turtle drawn with charcoal pencil
After
high-school graduation, Raegan wants to: Go to college
What she says:
“I drew [the turtle] because at the time I really wanted to go to the beach,
and when I am at the beach I always hope to see a sea turtle. The process of
creating it was very time consuming. But in the end, it was all worth it.”
Sophie Mosley, 8th grade, General Ray
Davis Middle School
Teacher: Katy
King
Piece entered:
Elephant
After high
school graduation, Sophie wants to: Attend Brown University and major in Visual
Arts, as well as minoring in the Literary Arts
What she says:
“You can never stop learning. Some people are result-oriented types of people
and others, like myself, are process-oriented people. I love to think that
there are always ways for me to improve.”
Alexandra Sorto, 11th grade, North
Gwinnett High School
Teacher: Debi
West
Piece entered:
“Future Visions”
After high
school graduation, Alexandra would like to: Pursue the fine arts – possibly art
education
What she says:
“[My piece] was from a great lesson called ‘Pinspirations’…we were supposed to
find four pins on Pinterest that interested us and then create a self-portrait
using those four images as inspiration. We could do it in any size and use any
media. I loved the freedom and had a great time layering my acrylics to create
this piece.”
Camden Cook, kindergarten, Level Creek
Elementary
Teacher: Amber
Arnold
Piece entered:
Construction paper house
After high
school graduation, Camden would like to: Go to college and then be a police
officer or astronaut
What he says: “I
felt special because I was one of the only kids in my school to get picked. It
was fun seeing all the other kids’ art.”
Hannah
Marston, 8th grade, Harris County Carver Middle School
Teacher: Gina Fulcher
Piece entered: Reverse-shaded chalk
drawing of Justin Bieber (“not ashamed!” she told us in our Q&A)
After high school graduation, Hannah
would like to: Go to UGA
What she says: “It was a lot of fun going
up to the Capitol because only two people got to go. It is a huge honor because
we met Rep. John Pezold! It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience (unless you are
a good artist).”
Cameron
Pearce, 8th grade, Harris County Carver Middle School
Teacher: Gina Fulcher
Piece entered: A turtle painting
After high school graduation, Cameron
would like to: Go to college
What he says: “I
chose a turtle because I love how awesome and detailed they are. While I
was painting with the tempera paints, I kept getting the wrong shades. When
I was doing the details on the fins, I did the sports first, then the skin, so
I had to go back over the spots…I worked backwards.”
Laura
Foxworth, 11th grade, Union Grove High School
Teacher: Kirby Meng
Piece entered: Rabbit scratchboard
After high school graduation, Laura would
like to: Study either animation or illustration in college
What she says: “I’ve always enjoyed
drawing animals, because the detail required is quite fun to render with a
furry animal like a rabbit. You need to use lots of small lines to accurately
capture all of the strands of hair.”
Neil Hancock, 12th grade, Union Grove
High School
Teacher: Kirby
Meng
Piece entered:
Prismacolor drawing of orchids
After high
school graduation, Neil plans to: Study art at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at
UGA
What he says:
“Drawing with prismacolor allowed me to capture very fine details, while
simultaneously being able to mix and layer colors.”
Colby Buchan, 4th grade, Stilson
Elementary School
Teacher: Nancy
Miller
Piece entered:
Deer skull
After high
school graduation, Colby would like to: Go to college. He’s interested in
architecture, science, and everything about history, world and U.S. –
especially things having to do with the military. He loves computers, and
especially anything to do with gaming, so he may want to become a video game
creator.
What he says:
“Hunting with my dad, and also Georgia O’Keeffe, inspired me about my project.
We have a whitetail buck deer skull European mount on our back porch, and it
also inspired me. It was difficult and simple, all at the same time, to create
my project.”
Owen Anderson, 3rd grade, Vidalia
Heritage Academy/Art by Gwen Studio
Teacher: Gwendolyn
Davis
Piece entered: 3
Monsters
After high
school graduation, Owen would like to: Go to college
What he says: “I
was looking in a fantasy book and I saw an eel and I thought it would be cool
to make something like that, but a little different. It turned out like a giant
sea monster.”
Dottie McDaniel, 3rd grade, Sally D. Meadows Elementary School/Art by
Gwen Studio
Piece entered: Mermaid, Sorcerer, Fairy
Teacher: Gwendolyn Davis
After high school graduation, Dottie
would like to: Go to college and study to become a marine veterinarian
What she says: “[My piece] was a fantasy
piece with a mermaid, sorcerer, and a fairy. It was inspired by a book and by
my love of magical characters. I used markers to make the basic picture and
then cut out colored duct tape to make the details.”
Lordea
Childress, 12th grade, Tri Cities High School
Teacher: Sahirah Bussey
Piece entered: “Somewhere in God’s Mind…”
After high school graduation, Lordea
would like to: Attend college for fine arts and graphic design to prepare for
her career in art
What she says: “The inspiration for this
artwork was the thought of how each culture around the world can actually be
the makeup of a single person. Even if one doesn’t directly descend from a
particular racial/cultural group, they were still impacted by them all, and so
they are a part of this person. That person is me.”
Melissa
Mims, 12th grade, Tri Cities High School
Teacher: Sahirah Bussey
Piece entered: Untitled self-portrait
After high school graduation, Melissa
would like to: Become a world-renowned animator/director/artist
What she says: “[My piece] is supposed to
be me as an entirety. I utilized perspective to explore foreshortening.”
Savannah
Von Allgeier, 7th grade, Sweetwater Middle School
Teacher: Brittany Brinson
Piece entered: Self-portrait in oil
pastel
After high school graduation, Savannah
would like to: Do something involving animals or graphic design
What she says: “The process
of creating [my piece] was fun, yet quite difficult. It took me a while to do
the eyes, the mouth, and the hair, but, other than that, it was pretty easy and
I enjoyed drawing and coloring it.”