Capital High School Recognizes Art Students at Annual Event

0 Shares

 

By Tom Rohrer

olympia vision clinicReceiving recognition for hard work and dedication is a necessary facet of all high school activities.

For decades, Capital High School has provided such recognition to the collection of talented students showing a passion for producing art.

On Tuesday, May 20, CHS will host its annual Art’s Recognition Night, showcasing a wide variety of student produced work ranging from paintings to literary endeavors.  The event will run from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Metalwork, ceramics, photography, woodwork, painting and writing submissions will be on display at the event while performances from Capital High bands and theater students will take place throughout the evening.

capital high school art
Capital High School junior Fiona Dahl looks inward for inspiration to create drawings. Her drawing of a male with a landscape on his head took over 16 hours and was thought up in a day dream by Dahl.

Featured in Tuesday’s event will be the work of four CHS upperclassman, a new experience for some and an enjoyable return for the others.

Senior Jack George and juniors Fiona Dahl and Izaiha Raudenbush all have shown at the recognition night in previous years, while senior Aiyana Perry will be displaying for the first time.  George and Dahl will be showing a collection of drawings and painting, while Raudenbush and Perry will display a welding project apiece.  Perry submitted an additional drawing as well.

The four students were eager to describe their pieces in detail.

“I’m going to show a piece I worked on for 16 hours and that’s a face of man as a landscape.  I also have a girl with an outer space setting painted in her mouth,” said Dahl, a member of the CHS gymnastics team. “We had to create an additional portrait of an orphan (through a class project) and I will be submitting that as well.”

“My welding piece is a collection of metal roses placed in a flower bouquet,” added Raudenbush. “The roses are colored purple and the stems are green.”

“I’ve got one portrait painting and my welding piece is a robot arm made out of nails and washers,” said Perry. “My painting is of the actor Tim Curry in the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“I’m submitting a portrait of actress/singer, Ariana Grande.  The whole face is all graphite and the hair is colored pencil,” said George, who finished second in the CHS Arts Recognition Night Drawing category last year. “I’ve also submitted a painting of star with stipple cell around it.”

The inspiration for the collection of pieces from this group is as varied as the art itself.  George has a celebrity crush on Grande, while Dahl formulated her pieces with her imagination.  Perry’s robotic arm was inspired partially by the movie Terminator.  Raudenbush created a single metal rose for a friend and when she reacted positively to it he decided to complete the bouquet.

Clearly a passion of the students at CHS, art continues to be an important aspect of the culture in Olympia.  The impressive murals on walls downtown, celebrations such as Arts Walk and the work of celebrated local artists combine to make a an ideal community for aspiring artists.

capital high school art
Students will also be displaying woodworking projects.

“(Olympia) is big on art and you see it everywhere around here,” said Raudenbush.  “You get new ideas, even if it’s of a different material or style than you work with.”

“I’ll stop by the Superhero mural downtown and just stare at it for a while,” said George.  “I can appreciate that detail and how much time it took.  Plus you can see all the work from artists in the stores, and it makes you think about being in the same position someday.”

The group’s passion for creating art is nothing new and all four of the interviewed students began honing their craft before stepping foot in the CHS hallways.

“I’ve drawn and crafted stuff since I could remember.  I was always doodling on worksheets and all that,” said Perry, who sites ancient murals and petroglyphs as some of her favorite art.  “I’ve always enjoyed it, and it’s always been fun for me.”

“I would just draw my imaginations and my thoughts and I really still do that,” said Dahl.  “That started at a young age…I was constantly drawing new things, coloring new things.  It’s a comforting (activity) for me.”

capital high school art
After creating a single metal rose through his time in a Capital High School welding class instructed by Tim Carlson, Capital High School junior Izaiha Raudenbush was inspired to create an entire boquet following a positive reaction to the first rose from friends.

Upon their arrival at Capital, teachers such as Cecily Schmidt and Tim Carlson encourage and instruct students to further their artistic development.

“Cecily Schmidt helped me out a ton and really pushed me to create the school mural,” said George, who plans on attending an art institute after he completes his associates at South Puget Sound Community College. “I would be working hard on it, spending a lot of time and she would keep pushing me, keep telling me to work harder. She’s helped me find that drive.”

“I like that (Tim Carlson) encourages us to try and work on thing we want to work on,” said Raudenbush, who plans on continuing to work in welding and push the limits of metal art.  “He wants us to go as far as we would like to go.”

Through the efforts of the students and the instruction from the teachers, the CHS Arts Recognition Night encompasses the impressive talent that sometimes lays hidden in the school.

“Every year, I’m more amazed by the work that’s on display,” said Dahl.  “You walk around and think, wow I didn’t know they could do that.”

“It’s cool to think that everyone’s minds are working differently but still producing pretty challenging art,” said George.  “Art is life, and you can see that here.”

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
0 Shares