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Fast Forward:
The Mayor's Teen Art Show
Opening Reception:
Friday, September 13, 6 – 8pm
September 13 – October 4, 2013
The Maude Kerns Art Center and Comcast proudly present the fourteenth annual “Fast Forward: The Mayor’s Teen Art Show,” opening on Friday, September 13, and on view through October 4. The exhibit was juried by artists and Art Center instructors Erika Beyer and Kate Bollons and past “Mayor’s Teen Art Show” artists Abina Boesjes and Nick Sugiyama. Comcast celebrates its eighth year as the Title Sponsor of the Art Center’s “Mayor’s Teen Art Show.”
The Awards Ceremony and Reception take place on Friday, September 20, from 6 – 8 pm. At this time Mayor Kitty Piercy announces the “Mayor’s Choice Award,” and artists will be honored with the Comcast Choice Award, the Maude Kerns Art Center Award, and a number of Artist Recognition awards.
The fourteenth annual “Fast Forward: The Mayor’s Teen Art Show” features artworks, including videos, created by 56 talented teens from fifteen area schools. The exhibit includes artwork in a variety of media, including acrylic paintings, photography, charcoal, pastels, pen and ink, ceramics, glass, digital art, and sculpture. Also showcased in the ”Mayor’s Teen Art Show” is the work of award-winning teen video artists from Youth Visions.
Fifteen-year-old Sophie Doleman from Pleasant Hill High School, a first-time participant in the “Mayor’s Teen Art Show,” exhibits three examples of her digital art, as well as a pen and ink cartoon. Sophie, whose favorite subjects are dragons, has been drawing from a very young age. In 2010 she became interested in digital art and has pursued new techniques using various computer software programs. She says of her work: “I enjoy the feeling of being able to capture emotions on paper, bringing my imagination to life.”
Brothers Ryan O’Hair and Cameron O’Hair are both exhibiting in this year’s “Mayor’s Teen Art Show.” Thirteen-year-old Ryan, from Monroe Middle School, is a newcomer to the show. Ryan is influenced by the manga/anime style of drawing popular in Japan. He exhibits a colorful mixed media piece called “Breaking Dawn in an Alley.” Seventeen-year-old Cameron, from Sheldon High School, has exhibited his work a number of times at Maude Kerns Art Center, including in “Variations: Art Expressing Music” (2012) and in the 2012 “Mayor’s Teen Art Show,” when he received the Mayor’s Choice Award. Cameron, who plans on becoming a multimedia artist, exhibits three acrylic paintings in this year’s exhibit.
Sixteen-year-old Jordan Pickrel from Marist High School shows five pieces in this year’s exhibit, including a large acrylic painting on cork, two hand-built, carved and glazed ceramic pieces, and two mixed media sculptures. Jordan began working in art in elementary school and has not stopped creating and exploring new mediums since then. For him “art work is a way of expressing thoughts, experiences, and memories.”