Seniors celebrate years of artistic evolution in final farewell
As 2021-2022 finally comes to a close, students had the chance to show off artistic abilities years in the making during the Senior Art Showcase, an event featured in the last art show of the year. For many seniors, these last four years have been hectic thanks to Covid, forcing many to create with limited space, time, materials, and motivation.
Art instructor and Department Chair Linda Geffers was glad to return to normalcy.
“We are super excited to have an art show after these two years,” she said. “We had a really good showing, and people could come and see what our awesome kids are doing.”
Awesome kids indeed. Many seniors, like Lauren Braun, chose to display their art these past four years in the form of a board, which they were able to decorate with their preferred works.
“My favorite piece is probably my value drawing of Taylor Swift,” she said. “You can really see all the different values and shades.”
Seniors Madalyn and Morgan Houle have their own favorites, part of a collection of four pieces created throughout their four years at West.
“I think my favorite piece is my colored pencil for senior art,” Madalyn said. “It's a single cover for Cage the Elephant’s Goodbye. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would, even though it doesn’t look exactly like the picture.”
Her sister started in the musical genre.
“My favorite is my acrylic painting of Russel Hobbs from Gorillaz,” Morgan said.
Sticking with art all four years of high school has provided seniors with a wide variety of art to display.
“It’s nice to see the progression of talent and creativity and skill after this whole time,” Geffers said. “If they spent that many years with us, they have a good collection of work, and it’s just nice to put it together.”
As their talents increased, so did their love for the class itself. Geffers has created a warm and relaxing environment for students, and it has helped them improve as artists and people.
“I know I've definitely improved. It finally hit me this year that I got better,” Madalyn said. “It’s finally nice to feel proud of your art for once.”
Morgan expressed similar sentiments towards her artistic journey.
“Socially, I’ve opened up a little bit more. I’m more comfortable talking to others, and I think art has helped with that,” she said.
For Geffers, this year’s seniors in particular have shown incredible artistic ability through nontraditional mediums, such as 3D pieces and mixed media. She believes their unique creativity intertwines with their individuality and who they are as people.
“I think this whole group is just a really nice group of individuals that work really hard,” she said. “Everyone is neat and caring, and I feel warmth in the room. I really enjoyed getting to know them, seeing them grow, and see where they’re headed off to. Just people being people.”
Art instructor Jason Ryf views these shows as good for the community and for people as individuals, even for those who don’t create art themselves.
“Art is something everybody can do. There are all different mediums that people can try.” he said.
Madalyn enjoys the freedom found in the arts.
“It’s really nice to just sit back and not have to worry about thinking too hard about other classes and such. But also when you’re done, it’s nice to feel proud,” she said.
“It’s also a good way to express your creativity in a healthy way,” Morgan said.
Others feel the arts are overlooked and therefore support art shows for students to display their hard work and dedication, such as Braun.
And for the art teachers like Ryf, seeing their students artwork displayed and appreciated is enough to drive their passion and encourage others to support the arts as well.
“Everybody should support it just because they can find out if they’re good at something, they can do it on the side to let out some stress,” he said. “In everybody’s head, they kind of have an idea of what art is, but it’s a whole big genre. We have five art teachers here that all teach different things, and that’s just a little bit of it.”
Geffers appreciates the inclusivity and collective joy found throughout the art community.
“I think it’s an outlet for emotions; stress, happiness, whatever.” she said. “It’s for everybody. You don’t have to be an excellent artist.”
By Len Kloss
Oshkosh West Index Volume 118 Issue 8
May 23rd, 2022