(Claire S./Staff)
Academy’s Morris Hall Art Gallery installed its seventh annual Student Art Show on Monday, October 30, featuring works from the Explorers, Pre-K, lower, middle, and upper Schools students. Displayed are paintings, drawings, ceramics, and photographs. In 2016, after the remodeling of Morris Hall, which served as staff offices, middles school lockers, and even the old library, the art department initiated this all-school event.
On display are upper schoolers’ ceramics for the annual Empty Bowls event in December. Under Ms. White’s instructions, students used a collection of new slips, clay bodies, and glazes when throwing the estimated 350 bowls. Hand-sculpted ceramic figures are also in the exhibit. Ceramics teacher, Ms. White, said, “This is one of the instances that allows the divisions to come together as one school. Columbus Academy teaches grades pre-k through 12, so it’s nice to have a space that encapsulates the work of everyone, not just the upper schoolers. This show is a good representation of what the school is and the diversity within it.”
On Morris Hall’s second floor are glass vases holding kindergartners’ cut-out paper flowers, made from colorful construction paper, with some having splatters of paint in the centers and others with 3-dimensional leaves protruding from rolled paper stems.
Halloween and fall-themed pieces, including jack-o-lantern collages and paintings of pumpkins, created by the classes of 2035 and 2033 are on the second floor.
The Explorers and Pre-K classes crafted “Wooly Stones,” using brightly-colored felt pieces to adorn golf ball-sized stones.
Mr. Block said, “I think it’s fun to represent what everyone’s doing. You look at the little kids who make something because they are excited, and you look at the older kids who may share that same enthusiasm but now have the maturity to search for purpose with the piece.”
Regarding this unity among all classes, Ms. Tursich said, “It feels like one connected family having the little kids and teenagers in the same space. It’s very special to see.”
The show closes on Saturday, December 23.
