BY JESSICA STEELEY
Clarkston News Staff Writer

Art aficionados appreciated a diverse selection of mediums at the opening reception of Clarkston High School’s Art Show. “The nice thing about the art show here is more students have the opportunity to see it, given it’s in school for two weeks. So, students who can’t come to the reception still have the opportunity to view all the art,” said Nichole Kaplan-Rudolph, high school art teacher.
The show has about 350 pieces, from paintings to photography to 3-D art.
“I pick the best examples of the things kids have been working on. Somebody who’s gone above and beyond with the projects that we give them,” said Meg Messina, high school art teacher.
Kaplan-Rudolph added they pick a variety of projects so they can represent all the different art classes offered and all types of art created.
“It’s pretty selective,” Kevin Breen, also a CHS art teacher, said. “I think we have a nice, wide variety of mediums.”
Senior Jordan Smearman’s main medium is photography. She has a few pieces in the high school art show and she was featured in the district art show at the administration building as well.
“It was a complete shock and I was freaking out because I didn’t realize my stuff would be in there,” Smearman said. “I think it’s awesome to see this stuff in here and to see everyone else’s artwork is in here and they can really celebrate it.”
Junior Christine Wakefield designed a pair of shoes featured in the show.
“There’s a Vans opportunity to design our own pair of shoes and I was like that’s kind of something crazy, I’ve never done that before,” Wakefield said. “I just used acrylic paint and sharpies and put it on the shoes. It was a super cool opportunity.”
Messina described other showcased work, some of which were drawings done by Clarkston Kindergartners and transformed by advanced art students.
“We drafted a lot to see what kind of idea we wanted to go with and we all choose completely different things. None of them turned out like similar at all. Even if someone did the same piece it turned out completely different, which I liked. It was neat,” said senior Jessica Fay.
Fay’s matched kindergarten piece was on display at the show, along with some other pieces she created.
“We have a lot of students who are moving on and doing this in college too,” Breen said. “So, [we’re] showcasing some of those students and their achievements and what they’ve done.”