North High School is not just thriving in their sports and theater arts programs, but in their art forms too. Just this past February, The District Art Show hosted four students from D.C. Smith’s room. Their beautiful art work was displayed in the Capital Square Mall among the art from the other schools on the district.

According to Smith, students were chosen by nomination. “I had students vote on what they thought was most appropriate or what they liked best,” he said

The pieces all came from different assignments throughout the year. Since Smith’s art class is project based, he gives his students the freedom to draw what they want, as long as they learn and improve on the skill he has assigned.

The art shows give students the opportunity to show the skills they have improved on, and allowing them to see other forms of art.

The four students coming from his room were: Autumn Klootwyk, Levi Banda, Vy Nguyen, and Ethan Lovan.

Each student had a different assignment. For instance, Klootwyk, who drew the hearts, “was working on color and had to demonstrate [her] knowledge of four color schemes and how those four color schemes would apply to a composition,” Smith says.

Klootwyk explained that, “It was difficult. I have never painted on a canvas before. That was the first time so it was really confusing.”

Banda drew the twisted eye using a scratch board. His project involved showing value with lights, darks, and mediums. Some people, like Nguyen with the picture of a face, used charcoal to complete these value drawings.

Lovan made the painting of the different colored faces. He says, “It was made out of oil paint. I had to start it about three months before -as soon as I found out about the project- because oil paints take so long to dry. I automatically knew that I wanted to do a song, and Spectrum (by Florence + The Machine) was what was on repeat all of the time. I really didn’t have a full on idea of what I was going to do, like the faces. My thought process just went along with the painting.”

Their hard work and determination led them to get nominated to be a part of the District Art show. Klootwyk said, “I was excited and embarrassed at the same time. I’m kind of shy when it comes to my art so I don’t show it off.”

Lovan, in turn, said “I felt so accomplished, art is my passion so when I do art I put 110% in every art piece I do. When I got picked to be in the art show, it felt like I was doing something right. I was really honored to represent North.”

All of the students who participated in the art show felt very accomplished to have their wonderful talents and hard work recognized. “There’s a lot of cool art out there,” Klootwyk says. And she’s right, because she is one of the people who show that talent comes in many forms and that everyone is a beautiful work of art.

So take an interest in art, start looking at the world a different way. These kids did, the sports team did, choir and theater did, these are all people that are making art by doing something they love.

Check out the up close pictures in the lobby and the newspaper 🙂