The Maude Kerns Art Center is proud to present two exhibits, the 25th annual Mayor’s Teen Art Show, featuring artwork by 42 talented teens from 19 local schools in the Main Gallery and the Whiteaker Printmakers 2024 Emerald Print Exchange, presenting 170 unique, hand-pulled prints by artists from eight countries and 29 states in the Art Center’s Salon Gallery. Both the “Mayor’s Teen Art Show” and the “Emerald Print Exchange” open on Friday, September 6 and are on view through September 27.
The Mayor’s Teen Art Show was juried by educator Sara S. Spahn, past “Mayor’s Teen Art Show” Best of Show recipient Troy Sproul, and educator David Palencia. Selected teen artists display work in an eclectic array of mediums. An Awards Ceremony and Reception takes place on Friday, September 6, from 5 – 7 pm, when Mayor Lucy Vinis presents the Mayor’s Choice Award winner. Additional awards, including Best of Show, three Juror’s Choice Awards, and the Maude Kerns Art Center Award will also be announced. A Closing Reception Concert by Jake and the Hellcats takes place on Friday, September 27 from 5 – 7 pm.
Nevaeh Bahler, 17 years old, from Sheldon High School, shows a digital work entitled Woman in Kintsugi: Mending with Grace that references the symbolism of the traditional Japanese pottery technique, “Kintsugi.” In this technique, cracks and fissures are repaired with precious metals like gold and silver. Bahler depicts a porcelain woman “whose cracks and scars are not hidden but are accentuated with golden seams, representing the strengths and grace that come from healing.”
Lila Barney, 18 years old, a new Mayor’s Teen Art Show exhibitor from North Eugene High School, draws on her indigenous heritage, creating art pieces made with colorful beads sewn in intricate patterns onto felt and then backed with hide. Barney learned beading from her grandmother and values the patience that beading instilled in her. Her three art pieces – Twin Stars, Channels, and Black Widow – are inspired by the beauty found in nature and honor the cultural legacy of her tribe.
Charlie Coughlan, 13 years old, from Roosevelt Middle School, exhibits Spaghetti Western, a colorful western scene created with alcohol markers and pen on paper. A newcomer to the Mayor’s Teen Art Show, Coughlan enjoys drawing comics and painting miniature figures. In this piece, he alludes to the low-budget films made in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s. Coughlan creates an amusing visual pun, obscuring the face of the cowboy with spaghetti.
Dascha Roe, 15 years old, from the Academy of Arts and Academics, displays Shadowy Figure, made of felted wool. A first-time participant in the Mayor’s Teen Art Show, Roe enjoys drawing and painting, and in particular figurative art. She finds the act of creating “addictive” and hopes that her felted art piece “evokes a sense of wonder and curiosity in the viewer.”
The Emerald Print Exchange exhibit draws upon a large community of printmakers from around the U.S. and the world. It offers a unique opportunity to view 170 hand-pulled, fine art prints in a wide variety of print media, including etchings, aquatints, lithographs, woodcuts, linocuts, mezzotints, and screen prints. Exhibited prints will be auctioned for purchase online in an Online Reverse Auction Fundraiser, which begins on Friday, September 6, and ends on Tuesday, October 1. In a “reverse auction,” prices of artwork drop each day. Sales benefit Whiteaker Printmakers and the Maude Kerns Art Center.
