“Another One Bites The Dust” For Harrison School Of The Arts Senior Exhibition
by James Coulter
A school auditorium viewed from a different perspective. Several different objects disfigured through waters. These two art pieces were awarded at the Senior Exhibition for Harrison School of the Arts.
Thirteen high school seniors from the local art school have their artwork showcased at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland as part of the school’s annual Senior Exhibition on Tuesday.
Each year, the senior class chooses a theme to represent their artwork at the exhibition. This year’s theme is “Another One Bites The Dust”, inspired by the hit song by Queen.
The theme represents how the seniors are chipping off another stone in their life and are ready to move forward in their life, explained Rocky Bridges, Visual Art Teacher.
Bridges has been involved with the students for the past three years. He has seen them grow and develop from teenagers to the young adults that they are now, and he is excited to see what they will accomplish in their new lives ahead of them.
“This accumulation of artwork is a beautiful display of 13 individualists that are expressing really positive things about the world,” he said. “I encourage them and nurture them and teach them techniques and they have really excelled in exercising their young voices around the world today.”
Two students had their artwork honored by being selected for the permanent collection of both the school and museum respectively. Each of their art will be part of the official galleries of the school and museum.
Vy Nguyen, 17, had her art piece selected for the school’s permanent collection. Hers is an oil piece showcasing several objects of different sizes and how they appear with their images distorted in water.
Nguyen is very thankful to have her piece inducted into the school’s collection, and she is looking forward to attending a community college to minor in art.
“I feel very grateful I have this opportunity to put my art on display,” she said. “I am thankful for it.”
Devin Marshall, 17, has his art piece selected for the museum’s art collection. His is of his school’s auditorium displayed through a unique perspective.
He created the piece through a class assignment. He and his classmates were asked to sketch the auditorium. He wanted to take the art prompt in a new direction.
“I did not want to do that, I did not want to do an exact drawing of it, so I decided to take a more creative approach to it,” he said.
Having his art piece inducted into the museum makes him more than optimistic for the future ahead of him. He plans on attending Savannah College Art and Design to continue studying art among other things.
“That is very exciting,” he said. “I am only 17 and I have something in the museum? That is amazing.”
The Harrison School of the Arts Senior Exhibition will be showcased at The Polk Museum of Art until Mar. 22. The museum is located at 800 East Palmetto Street, Lakeland, FL 33801-5529. For more information, visit their website at: https://polkmuseumofart.org
