Student art work, in process and ready for display. The LA Student Art Show opens April 13.
For the second year in a row, Lincoln Academy’s Visual Arts Department and Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust are partnering to bring you the cherished annual Student Art Exhibition, full of artwork by more than 50 of this year’s talented visual art students. The exhibition will be on display from April 13-25 at Coastal Rivers’ Denny Conservation and Education Center at 3 Round Top Lane in Damariscotta. All are invited to the opening reception to congratulate and celebrate the student artists and their artwork on Thursday, April 13 from 5 – 7pm.
This year’s Student Art Exhibition will feature artwork made by Nina Sylvia’s Advanced and AP Art students, Jonathan Mess’s advanced Ceramics students, and Kate Mess’s Jewelry & Metalsmithing students. Students do all of their own matting, framing, and setup for the show, and write artist statements to explain their creative process. Classes spend several hours in the exhibition space before the show opens, hanging the work and making decisions about lighting, display, and the coordination of diverse pieces. The show is an important part of the creative process for art students, many of whom are showing their work for the first time. This year, even the Student Art Exhibition poster was designed in Adobe Illustrator by one of LA’s student artists, senior Jack Bone ‘23.
“Jonathan, Nina, and I have worked hard to build a robust offering of visual art classes, where students can explore their creativity and try their hand at a variety of art media,” said Kate Mess. “This is just the tip of the iceberg of our current course offerings, which also include sculpture, printmaking, digital photography, graphic design, and more.”
From the smallest postcard to the large-scale canvas paintings, this year’s 2D art students have once again outdone themselves. Viewers will see a broad range of painting and illustrative styles in the two-dimensional works as well as cross over into the third dimension. “Many students have chosen to focus on themes that are personally relevant and societally apropos,” said Sylvia. “We look forward to this show each spring as a way to celebrate and share the incredible creativity we are fortunate to work with every day.”
Ceramic work in this year’s exhibition will include hand built sculpture, wall pieces, and wheel thrown pottery with an emphasis on surface design from students in Jonathan Mess’s yearlong Ceramics I, II, and III classes. “I’m excited to share the surfaces my students have recently been exploring on their ceramic works, from ancient techniques like fluting and sgraffito to expressive contemporary slip painted and torched surfaces,” said Jonathan Mess. “My most advanced ceramic students have been pushing each other to up the scale of their wheel thrown pottery, and there will be some impressive, big pots in the show this year.”
“We’re thrilled to bring our Student Art Exhibition back to Coastal Rivers for a second year,” said Kate Mess. “The Denny Conservation and Education Center is a beautiful space in which we’re honored to hang our colorful and varied artworks, and we’re looking forward to spreading out and expanding our show into other parts of their building, like their conference room upstairs.” Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust, formerly Damariscotta River Association and Pemaquid Watershed Association, is a non-profit, membership supported, and nationally accredited land trust and conservation organization, dedicated to preserving and promoting the natural, cultural, and historical heritage of the Damariscotta-Pemaquid region. Though not an art gallery, the organization makes a fitting partner and host for the Student Art Show in their goals of supporting education and community.
Following the reception, the public is invited to view the artworks anytime during Coastal Rivers’ business hours from 9am-4pm Monday through Friday, through April 25th.
