Artistic talent of high school students on display with in-person exhibition

The artistic talent of dozens of area high school students is being showcased in an exhibition that opened Friday night at the Thames Art Gallery.

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Organizer Michaela Lucio, art gallery assistant curator, said the ‘Here I Am: Student Exhibition’ is a revival of the previous High Class Art exhibition, an annual event for several years at the gallery that was last held in 2012.

She added this current juried exhibition initially ran virtually, beginning in 2021, for students with a scholarship and people’s choice awards.

This year’s first in-person exhibition at the Mezzanine Gallery of the Thames Art Gallery returned bigger and better with three People’s Choice awards and two Award of Excellence selections. There is $1,000 Graduating Scholarship Award to a student who is going on to study arts at the post-secondary level, donated by Cathy Van Raay-Myers.

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Lucio said there is about 70 works of art in the exhibit by local students.

“I couldn’t be more impressed with the caliber of their work,” she said.

The three People’s Choice Awards went to Grade 10 Chatham-Kent Secondary School student Halle De Jonge, Grade 12 CKSS student Lucy Thrift and MaKenna Mifflin.

Two Awards of Excellence went to Grade 11 CKSS student Scarlett Koole and Grade 12 John McGregor Secondary School student Laila Stewart.

Quinn Stoner, a Grade 12 student at Ursuline College Chatham won the Graduating Scholarship Award.

Lucio to earn the scholarship award, students had to submit a portfolio and be interviewed by the Thames Art Gallery curatorial staff.

“I was really excited,” Stoner said of winning the scholarship award.

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“Even walking away from the interview, I was really excited to be around people who have that passion for art,” she said.

Citing the feedback she received, Stoner said even if she didn’t win the scholarship, “I took a lot from that (interview). I just really appreciate it.”

She is going to the University of Windsor in the fall to take the Bachelor of Fine Arts program.

“I’m hoping to specialize in painting,” Stoner said.

She also has aspirations of becoming a high school art teacher or something down the path of art.

“I’m definitely sticking with it.”

Mayor Darrin Canniff attended Friday’s and presented a number of the awards.

“We have a lot of amazing talent in Chatham-Kent,” he said, adding a lot of it can be seen with the students’ work for this exhibition.

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Canniff said for the last few years, the municipality has really tried to invest in arts and culture in Chatham.

The mayor said event like this is part of what he sees as a “renaissance” in the community, adding residents can expect to see a lot more public art in the community.

Lucio said this year’s exhibition was initially planned to be done virtually, but a change there was change with the current exhibition on the main floor of the gallery, which opened up the Mezzanine Gallery.

So it was decided to go in-person with the Here I Am: Student Exhibition, she said.

“This was too important of an opportunity for the young creatives in our community, so we’re doing it,” Lucio said.

However, being a tight deadline, only four schools were able to get student artwork together for the exhibition, she said.

However, more schools have indicated they want to be a part of next year’s exhibition, she added.

“We’re hoping for this to become an annual event and growing again,” Lucio said.

She added area high school art teachers “have really been great partners to bring this to life.”

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