Plains High School art students show off work

More than 80 people showed up for the Plains High School Exhibition 2024 last Monday to see first hand the talents of the school's art students.

"I am definitely so proud of them," said art teacher Kristen Cole, who has put on a student art exhibit nearly every year since starting at the school 31 years ago. "There are some very talented kids doing this," she added.

Forty-four students from freshmen to seniors displayed 243 pieces of art in the elementary school gymnasium and Opportunity Room. They also had 11 painted ceiling tiles in the art classroom that will eventually be put up in the art room, and a plywood mural that was still in the shop classroom, but will eventually be on display in the school cafeteria. Eight sophomores and juniors from Cole's 2D art class made the 8x16-foot long mural.

The kids worked on their art projects throughout the school year and had a wide assortment - ink, watercolor, acrylic, ceramic, colored pencil, colored marker, graphite, photographs, alcohol, charcoal, paper mache, and non- traditional "paint," such as lipstick, coffee, teas, ketchup, and honey, to name a few. The students also had the opportunity to sell their work. Twenty were sold with Jasmine Trull, a junior, fetching the highest price at $20 with a non-traditional painting, "Pretty Pit," done with tea. Trull also had a charcoal piece of a meadowlark, the Montana state bird, which was used for the show's invitation and program.

Sophomore Victoria Swanson used soy sauce and black acrylic paint for a piece she called "Love At First Shot" depicting a battle between gamer Doom and an Animal Crossing character. Lucille Privett did a non-traditional painting of a human called "The Distortion," made of fake blood, using cocoa powder and food coloring. The sophomore initially wanted to use real blood, but Cole rejected the idea for safety reasons. "I thought it was interesting. She's really come into her art this year. It has a dimension to it, which makes it lift off the surface," said Cole.

Her sister, RuBea, a junior, also had soy sauce artwork with one called "Good Evening From Morioh," from a show called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. "It is really an amazing piece of artwork," said Cole.

Swanson and freshman Ireland Corbin had only photographs to represent their original art items because their work was sent to Washington, D.C. for a national VFW Auxiliary Unit 3596 Patriotic Art Scholarship Program. Swanson's art was a charcoal and watercolor piece entitled "What We Swore To Protect" about a somewhat controversial image of the nation's Founding Fathers facing off four against the world's top villains. Corbin's clay, "A Hand Off", depicts hands passing off an American flag presumably to the family of a fallen serviceman or servicewoman. Deb Davis, the auxiliary president, said there were about 20 entries at the local level. Corbin and Swanson both won on the local and district level.

Students also used recycled materials called "trash art" to demonstrate their artistic skills. Freshmen Ava Lawyer and Emelia Rivinius constructed a 66-inch tall Stanley cup from two trash cans, a trash can lid, paper mache, duct tape, and two pieces of plastic for the straw, a project that took the girls two weeks in art class. Rivinius made the same object as a miniature ceramic piece that measured 1 1/4 inches tall.

The largest artwork was an eight-foot long, three-foot wide "Kleenex Box" by freshmen Kaylene Morkert and Wyatt Josephson. Jackson Leckey, also a freshman, made a giant computer mouse. Leckey also made an inch and a half "Textbook" from clay. Guests were drawn to Alex Horodyski's art done in the multimedia category, a piece he titled "Green Goblin Display Helmet." It was mostly ceramic with plastic yellow eyes and a black duct tape mesh mouth and took him a month to make. "When I first made it, the head collapsed and I had to start all over," said Horodyski, a senior, who had six pieces in the show.

"I think there is a creativity on display that rocks my spirit and fills me with an anticipation of the future. There's some cool stuff here," said Nick Lawyer, who was especially impressed with an ink piece titled "Misunderstood" by Emory Ercanbrack, which he wants to have done in greeting cards.

The show was open from 6-8 p.m. and included finger foods, cookies, and drinks, along with piano entertainment by seniors Sam Feliksa and Joe Martin. The exhibit stayed up for people to view during the school hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. Forty-six of Cole's art students voted on the best piece of the show and 18 votes went to Ercanbrack for her oil painting titled "Het Meer," which is Dutch meaning the lake. Ercanbrack is an independent art study student and was the only one to do an oil painting. Foreign exchange student Isa Bakker of the Netherlands helped Ercanbrack with the title. It was Ercanbrack's first time to do an oil painting.

Another contest by the students selected Jay Flanagan and Liam Lyman, both sophomores, with "Bottleman," and Jack Cockrell, a freshman, with "Magnet Hero,"in a tie for first. Both pieces were trash art. Cole said she gave the winners "teenage fuel" - candy as a prize.