Culture

Meigs High Students’ Photography Featured at Kennedy Museum


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The Kennedy Museum of Art is presenting Emerging Artists: Meigs High School Photography, a juried exhibition of new photographic works created by students, on view in the 2nd floor gallery, Jan. 22 to March 20.

In 2012, the Kennedy began presenting an annual exhibition of high school photography with a goal to showcase the work of local high school students as well as introduce them and their family, friends and school administrators to the Kennedy and the resources it offers to the community.

“We chose photography because it’s a medium that almost all high school students have access to and because it can be standardized in form and size to fit into the exhibition space,” said Lisa Quinn, the educational programs coordinator.

The featured schools are responsible for the selection and delivery of photographs, usually using a panel made up of teachers and local experts. The museum then mounts and frames the photographs for the exhibition, including only one photograph per student to maximize the number of students represented.

"Guitar," digital photograph, 2015, by Leia Gilmore
“Guitar,” digital photograph, 2015, by Leia Gilmore

For this exhibition, Nicki Eddy and Josie E. Russell, service coordinators for the After School Accelerators (ASA) program at Meigs County High School, worked diligently to facilitate the process of selection and delivery of student work. The ASA team worked with Bartee Photography to conduct workshops with the students in preparation for artwork submissions.

“This project has been more successful than I could have imagined.  It was wonderful to see our students so engaged and excited. A couple of students even surprised themselves by how much they enjoyed learning about the art of photography and the talents they didn’t know they possessed,” said Josie E. Russell, ASA service coordinator.

As of 2015, the Kennedy has featured student photography exhibitions representing Athens, Federal Hocking, Nelsonville-York, Lancaster and Logan High Schools. This year the Kennedy is providing bus funds, through the Friends of Kennedy Museum, for participating students to attend the opening night reception of their work along with two other exhibitions opening the same night.

Opening reception for all three exhibitions, Emerging Artists: Meigs High School Photography, Hidden Mother, and Encounters Beyond Borders, will be held Friday, Jan. 22 from 5-7 p.m.  A gallery walk of the exhibition Encounters Beyond Borders, with Curator Andrea Frohne, will be held 4-5 p.m. The events are free and open to the public.

The exhibition can be viewed in the Kennedy Museum of Art in Lin Hall 536, 100 Ridges Circle, Ohio University, Athens. Open gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday and 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.