Student arts competition opens to new venue, policy

NORFOLK

Given its prospects for rain and snow, Saturday seemed perilous for carrying fragile artworks outside, or for driving. And yet 504 teens made a morning trek to Selden Arcade for a high school art contest.

On opening day for the 37-year-old Student Gallery competition, art teachers with longtime involvement in the project were curious about the new venue and approach.

The show was last mounted in 2008. After viewing the resurrected version, Susan Cupitt, an art teacher at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, said it was "fantastic. We need this.

"There's so much talent in this area. These kids need an outlet like this."

The show had been sponsored by The Virginian-Pilot, which was forced to withdraw support last year because of the economy. It was revived by a partnership of arts groups and renamed the Hampton Roads Student Gallery.

"It's been so worth it," said Scott Howe, director of education at the Chrysler Museum of Art and a lead volunteer. "Just the number of people who have been thanking us today as they came in."

The other organizers are Norfolk's Cultural Affairs, the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia in Virginia Beach and the d'Art Center, a studio-gallery setup also in Selden Arcade.

Monique Jones, 15, and a junior at Churchland High School in Portsmouth, attended in support of a friend. "It's interesting to see how people voice their different opinions in the art," she said.

Two artists from Churchland High who also attend Governor's School readily discussed the ideas behind their work. Chris Kindred, a senior, submitted a realistic close-up of his face flanked by black bars.

Kindred said he used the bars to suggest inner pressure.

"I think of myself as being in a transition period in my life. I'm facing forward and looking back at what I'm leaving," as he contemplates graduating.

While the face is directed ahead, the eyes are looking away, he said.

Cameron Booth, a junior, created a work in response to municipal actions against street art, or graffiti, he said. He wanted to show what it might feel like to have your art painted over or removed, he said.

For his work, the images spill off the canvas with painted, paper extensions.

"I wanted it to have an almost illegal feel to it," said Cameron, who plans to go to college and become a shoe designer.

Cameron's work was more thoughtful than shocking and did not challenge the show's new policy regarding objectionable imagery. Students were advised to adhere to their individual schools' code of conduct, Howe said. No issues around controversial subject matter or content arose on Saturday.

During the awards ceremony, only one of the six top winners was present. The top artist, DeVonn Francis, a junior at Salem High in Virginia Beach who attends the Governor's School, had to go to work, said Vic Frailing, head of visual arts at the Governor's School.

The abstract piece has a richly textured surface with a central black shape that appears to extend deeply into space. Though abstract, the piece might suggest a landscape in a snowstorm, with no horizon line and a few dark smudges for footsteps.

The mixed-media work on wood panel is titled "The House We Built."

DeVonn is a conceptually sophisticated art student who also makes intriguing videos, Frailing said.

"He really has developed a strong sense of abstraction."

Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485, teresa.annas@pilotonline.com