“I Know What You Made Last Summer” Art Exhibit Opens
September 14, 2018
Photo credit: Isabella Thorpe/Achona Online
As a Sculpture and Art 2D teacher, Melissa Lima is actively involved in the arts. Lima will also run the Europe Trip in the summer that is sponsored by the art department.
On Friday, September 7, the Academy’s visual arts department opened the “I Know What You Made Last Summer” art exhibit. The display showcases various works of art that were composed by both students and teachers throughout the 2018 summer break. The works of art were not limited to a single medium, as each work brings a new form of art to the table.
The high school art exhibit opened at 3:30 p.m. in the Bailey Center. Each of the artists included an artist statement along with their piece to go more in-depth with their creation.
Photography teacher Paige Rodriguez submitted an oil painting of an alligator for the gallery. She spent three months on the art, thus being the only piece that she was able to complete this summer.
“The people who I gave the painting to had it in their house for a couple of weeks, and then I picked it up because that took up all of the time I had to paint and I wanted to display my hard work at the Academy exhibit,” says Rodriguez.
Rodriguez’s work of art was intended for a friend who is a University of Florida alumni.
Juniors Nicole Stephan and Leah Solomon attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago over the summer to take a Designing Change class. For their projects, they had to construct 3D models based on a structure from their preferred time period.
Solomon says, “I had England in the Middle Ages, so I created a house from that era; I then used those blueprints to model a more modernized house.”
The two juniors went to the Early College Program Summer Institute due to Stephan’s aspiration to be an architect and Solomon’s interest in interior design.
AP Language and Composition teacher Lauren Oetinger submitted two blankets that she knitted this summer for the art collection. A rainbow blanket she made was for her daughter Emma Jane, a kindergartener at the Academy, whereas the other blanket was for a friend who just had a newborn baby.
Prior to learning how to crochet this past winter, Oetinger knew how to knit rudimentary patterns. She took up interest after seeing “beautiful” crocheting patterns on Pinterest and learned how to acquire such a skill through Youtube.
Oetinger says, “It is definitely a learning process. I do not by any means feel like I am a pro.”
When asked about how it felt to present her artistic summer projects to the Academy community, Oetinger says, “What’s funny is that I remember when we had done this show last year-I am always working on something-but this was really the first time that I felt like I had a solid product to display. I was definitely a little bit nervous.”
If interested in seeing these pieces among the others that are presented, the works are on display in The Michael and Candace Valdes Family Gallery.