Capitol Arts Exhibit

Northview art students get the opportunity to have their work showcased in the Capitol Arts Exhibit

Special, artwork Among the Stacks by Sophia Rutledge

Natalie Damer Salas, Opinions Editor & Alexandra Gray, Staff Writer

On March 16, the Capitol Arts Exhibit featured artwork from schools in Georgia at their annual event hosted at the Capitol Museum. Art teachers Jeanette Clawson and Brooke Bolduc chose four art pieces from Northview students to be featured in this exhibit. The pieces chosen included Brooke Hartman’s Moey’s Time Machine, which is a digitally altered 35mm negative, ChaeHyo Rachel Park’s Eye of the Tiger, a mixed media metaphorical self-portrait, Sophia Rutledge’s Among the Stacks, which is a mixed media metaphorical self-portrait, and Isabel Sang’s Out of Body which is a digitally altered photograph. Everyone could come to the Capitol building to appreciate the pieces.

Rutledge’s. Her piece was a metaphorical piece in which she made a self-portrait with symbols and elements around it that are important aspects of her life. She enjoyed the experience because of the support system it involved.

“There were hundreds of schools, with work from kindergarten all the way to 12th grade,” Rutledge said. “People were there from all around supporting one thing, and it felt really nice to be around a bunch of other people who were there to see your piece and others' pieces, and just enjoy the art.”

Along with the uplifting community these artists are provided with through this experience, there are other benefits as well. Art opportunities such as this one help artists grow their experience levels and help prepare them for a future with a career in art.

“These opportunities are valuable from so many viewpoints. They're valuable from the viewpoint of exposing our community to the excellence and the level that our students create at,” Clawson said. “This is a form of awareness and we're always trying to educate in an amicable manner that the arts are valuable. People can’t appreciate what they don't know, so exposure is wonderful.”

Although being featured in the exhibition is a great opportunity to motivate art students and spread the importance of the arts in schools, Northview’s art students have many opportunities to submit for competitions throughout the year, even receiving up to national recognition. These larger competitions are particularly important for the future of art students.

“The students are building their resumes, just like anyone else in any other subject area will be building their resumes. Everything that we participate in has a different degree of value on their resume, for example, Scholastic Art and Writing Awards have been around for 100 years.,” Clawson said. “It's sort of like setting a pathway and continuing a connected acknowledgment in the arts.”

Recognition can also be more personal to art students than resume building; it also validates the artist’s hard work and passion for their chosen medium. Senior Brooke Hartman began photography in her second semester of sophomore year but was not passionate about it until she was introduced to film photography in Photo 2 the next year where she began exploring the medium. This year, Hartman’s piece was not only featured in the Capitol Art exhibit but also received an honorable mention in the Scholastic Arts & Writing Competition and is being featured in the High Museum of Art.

“It's really cool because I like my art. I love my art, but somebody else likes it. Somebody that doesn't know me, and I don't know them and they don't know my process,” Hartman said.

But Hartman has moved beyond submitting her art for recognition and has begun applying her knowledge and interest in film photography to her career as a concert photographer. Experiences such as these help prepare artists at Northview for the future. Getting involved in a bigger art community is beneficial for students and helps them throughout high school and the Capitol Arts Museum is just one way these students are building their recognition and immersing themselves in the art world.