High Art

Annually the Attleboro Arts Museum sponsors a show for high school art students. This year each participating high school was asked to work on a collaborative installation to fit a particular site within the museum space. The theme this year is Full Contrast.

A Show of opposites; black & white, light & dark, rough & smooth, right & wrong, good & evil… open to all mediums and concepts that communicate a literal or emotional view of opposing themes.

Eleven schools participated with eleven very original approaches to the idea of contrast. Some literal but most very conceptual conveying ideas about their places in the world. This was a great opportunity for me to witness making and experience some very heartfelt and ernest efforts. I juried the show on Wednesday and I'm still thinking about it today on Friday. The toughest part was having to choose winners.

I knew I was in trouble with this task immediately after making my first pass through. So I decided to only be in the space of one installation at a time and take notes. By the end of eleven installations I was still confused but my notes helped me choose based on how comprehensive the piece was as a whole and how many of the requirements were met.

All the installations were totally impressive and while driving home I almost called the museum several times to change my choices. Here are a few of the installations. I apologize for not having photos of all of them but like I mentioned, I was totally drained by the end of it and wasn't as thorough as usual.

This one is about the schizophrenia of being a teenager in high school. 

A conceptual interpretation of positive and negative space.

Left: an elaborate sculpture about good vs. evil. 

Right: Inspired by the struggles between the natural and manmade world.

I'm always drawn to themes of growth and decay.

Back: Design students working with size and shape and color in space.

Front: Themes of inner vs. outer beauty.

Left: Growth and decay

Right: Metamorphosis

Exhibition Dates:  May 21 – June 5, 2013

Opening Reception:  Thursday, May 23 from 6:30-8pm. 
Live music by pianist Mark Taber.

2013 Participating High Schools:

Attleboro High School – Attleboro, MA

Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro, MA

BMC Durfee High School – Fall River, MA

Franklin High School – Franklin, MA

Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing – Allston, MA

Joseph Case High School – Swansea, MA

King Philip Regional High School – Wrentham, MA

Mansfield High School – Mansfield, MA

Network Program – Attleboro, MA

North Attleboro High School – North Attleboro, MA

Taunton High School – Taunton, MA