Visual art seniors host “Homegrown” in the Norma E. Brown gallery.

Photo Gallery by Isiah Fish: https://www.manualredeye.com/?p=3406

story by Eli Fosl

On Thursday, January 27, Manual’s Visual Arts magnet held one of its senior art shows in the Norma E. Brown gallery. The show was called “Homegrown” and consisted of work from Alex Arrowood, Elmer Lopez, Parker Melton, Kyle Cottier, Leah Hughes, Allison Greer, Andy Duffy, and Jordan Plappert.

“YPAS has its theater shows and CMA has its newspaper and yearbook. This is VA’s chance to show off the hard work that happens in the magnet,” said Alex Arrowood (12).

The eight seniors involved had only two days to put together all their past work for the show and set it up in the gallery, which caused it to be quite a task for the students to take on. “It’s a huge effort to put your entire artistic career into a gallery as a few pieces,” said Leah Hughes, (12) “but it was great to see it all come together at the end.”

The senior art shows are a graduation requirement for all VA students and serves as a way for them to show their art to their peers and others. “The sponsor is there only to have an adult,” said Ms. Alana Alford. “It’s the students who do all the work, putting the show together, advertising, and bringing refreshments.”

However it isn’t only for the benefit of the seniors. Many VA juniors attend the show for inspiration and to get excited for future projects. “it’s really comforting to see all the great work these seniors have produced,” said Joe Hodapp (11). “It really gets us [juniors] inspired to work harder so that we can have a show like this next year.”