The Maude Kerns Art Center is proud to present two exhibits, the 24th annual Mayor’s Teen Art Show, featuring artwork by 41 talented teens from 19 local schools in the Main Gallery and the Whiteaker Printmakers 2023 Emerald Print Exchange, presenting original fine art prints by 169 artists from 11 countries and 32 states in the Art Center’s Salon Gallery. The Title Sponsor of the 24th annual Mayor’s Teen Art Show is the Susi Larsen & Cameron Serbu Memorial Scholarship Fund. Both the “Mayor’s Teen Art Show” and the “Emerald Print Exchange” open on Friday, September 8 and are on view through September 29.
Mayor’s Teen Art Show: The Mayor’s Teen Art Show was originally created to offer local teen artists the opportunity to have a professional gallery experience and to learn about the jurying process, writing an artist’s statement, and presenting their work for exhibition. For 23 years the Art Center’s “Mayor’s Teen Art Show” has provided young artists an important community platform to express themselves through the visual arts. The 2023 “Mayor’s Teen Art Show” jurors were artists and art educators Amy Albrecht, Diane Hill, and Diana Patin. Selected teen artists display work in an eclectic array of mediums, including crayons, alcohol markers, fabric markers, acrylic, charcoal, graphite, linocut print, sharpies, watercolor, oil, mixed media, photography, digital art, polymer clay, fabric, ceramics, paper mâché, wire, sticker gems, fur, clay paper, ink, copic markers, gouache, oil pastels, plastic bags, and denim scraps.
An Awards Ceremony and Reception takes place on Friday, September 8, from 5 – 7 pm. Mayor Lucy Vinis will be present to name the Mayor’s Choice Award winner. Additional awards, including Best of Show, Sponsor’s Choice Award, three Juror’s Choice Awards, and the Maude Kerns Art Center Award will also be announced. Cash prizes have been generously donated by the Title Sponsor, the Susi Larsen & Cameron Serbu Memorial Scholarship Fund.
River Kaswell, 16 years old, from South Eugene High School, shows his work for the first time in the “Mayor’s Teen Art Show.” Two of the three portraits he exhibits were created using traditional drawing mediums, such as crayons and alcohol markers. For the third piece, a self-portrait titled A Cartoon and My Stuffed Animal, he challenged himself to work digitally. River, who says he creates his work for fun, aspires to pursue art as an adult, and possibly make a career out of it.
Autumn Garibay, 18 years old, who is exhibiting in the “Mayor’s Teen Art Show” for the second time, is passionate about her art and the mediums she uses. She shows five mixed media works in this year’s exhibit, all of which incorporate stuffed animals and are intended to portray life from a child’s point of view. Once Autumn discovered the possibilities of mixed media art, she decided never to return to creating with just one medium. Autumn says: “Art is what I want to do for the rest of my life. It is what makes me genuinely happy, and I live to make others happy through art.”
Breanna Hill, 15 years old, from Springfield High School, first participated in the “Mayor’s Teen Art Show” in 2022. In this year’s show, she exhibits two oil paintings, Woman with a Basket of Fruit and Pomegranates on a Table. Breanna, who has enjoyed creating art since she was a child, has learned to prefer the medium of oil, which she deftly handles in her painting of pomegranates, a nostalgic image of “the fruit that brings vibrance to the winter season.”
Celia McNabb, 18 years old, from South Eugene High School, exhibits two fanciful, mixed media sculptures, Fabric Goat and Quilt Moose. A first-time exhibitor in the “Mayor’s Teen Art Show,” Celia created her pieces in her high school art class. She usually makes sculptures in clay but decided to branch out and use wire and fabric. Describing her intricately constructed sculptures, she says “I think that the fabric squares make it look like patchwork, like a dream that you can only remember most of.”
Emerald Print Exchange: This unique exhibit fulfills the mission of Whiteaker Printmakers to engage with a large community of printmakers from around the U.S. and the world. It is a great opportunity to view hand-pulled, fine art prints in a wide variety of print media, including etchings, aquatints, lithographs, woodcuts, linocuts, mezzotints, and screen prints. These prints will be available for purchase in an online Reverse Auction Fundraiser, which begins on Monday, September 4. In a “reverse auction,” prices of artwork drop each day. Sales benefit the Whiteaker Printmakers and the Maude Kerns Art Center. The exhibit and the auction close on September 29.
