SUBMITTED PHOTO Attendees to last year's One on One Gallery reception night view the various pieces of art made by local high school students. This year's reception is this evening, while the art will remain on display until Feb. 27.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
High schoolers from all four of the area’s secondary schools have had art on display at Medicine Hat College since Feb. 7.
Tonight there’s a reception at the Culture Centre’s One on One Gallery at 7 p.m. to give the 72 entries recognition, with cash prizes awarded by visual communications faculty.
Clint Lawrence, MHC’s visual communications co-ordinator told the News the exhibition’s origins lay in a desire to display the work of community members outside the college’s student body.
“Not only do we want to encourage people to get involved in the arts and, of course, provide a venue for them to showcase their talent, we do want to encourage students to see a place for them to land if they’re interested in art or design, and pursuing that forward,” he explained.
This informed their decision to open an annual exhibit for Grade 10-12 students from Hat High, Eagle Butte, Monsignor McCoy and Crescent Heights schools.
“We want to try to close the gap between the college and where we are in terms of our local community, so we do want people to come here and feel like this is a place that’s part of their community, but there is the goal of bringing students and showing them what this looks like,” said Lawrence. “There is a recruitment component.”
New this year, students who receive first, second and third prize, as well as the two honourable mentions, will be guaranteed admission to the visual communications program without an application fee should they pursue it.
“It’s quite full on the gallery wall, so it really is a nice reflection of the calibre this year, which is quite high. That makes it nice but it also makes it challenging to pick what folks think is the three best, or five best things that they see in there,” said Lawrence.
For those who can’t make the reception, the exhibition is on display until Feb. 27, open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
