With only a few months left of the school year, classes are beginning to rush to a halt. Students prepare themselves for AP tests, end-of-course exams, final projects, and tests and select their courses for next year. Amidst all the chaos that comes with the end of the school year, Lakewood High School makes sure to honor the hard work of all the students who have taken an art class during the school year with the Everyone But Senior Art Show. At the Everyone But Senior Art Show, The art atrium is decorated wall to wall with student artwork. The show features work from art one through three, AP drawing, ceramics 1 and 2, photography 1 and 2, and fibers.
With so many classes, so many students, and only so much space, each student gets to select a few pieces of their work for the year to be featured in the show to ensure that each student is featured.
“The art show is a culmination of everything we do here at Lakewood High School. It includes freshmen, sophomores, and juniors in art one through three including electives like ceramics, photography, and fiber arts,” art teacher Dayna Hansen said. “We asked students to select their best pieces, things they are really confident in or proud of, which a lot of times these pieces are huge accomplishments for those kids who started out a bit shy or unsure, it really shows their progress.”
This event means a lot to students in the art department, with students showing off their hard work from the year and showing which pieces they believe are their best work.
This year for The Everyone but Senior Art Show, Mrs. Stasiak and NAHS (National Art Honor Society) ran a fundraiser for the art department. Members of NAHS asked local businesses to donate a basket or gift card to help support the LHS art department. At the show, viewers could purchase raffle tickets for those baskets, and that money would be put back into buying supplies for the art department. Many businesses participated, with people buying tickets to bid on a Canes gift basket, tickets to the new Takashi Murakami show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, a basket of goodies from Aladdin’s, and so many other businesses.
“I loved seeing all the stuff local businesses were willing to offer,” Talullah Taylor said.
Lakewood is lucky enough to have all the art classes we do have. Many schools around Lakewood and Ohio offer a fraction of the art classes Lakewood offers students. The city is a beacon of creativity. The artistic community is reflected in the Everyone But Senior Art Show, where students and community members are pushed towards the arts.
“Students come in already with some appreciation and understanding (of the arts) because Lakewood is a center for the arts, and we can build upon that,” Hansen said.
Not only are the students involved in the arts (which can be seen with the art shows the school holds, all the artwork on display in the halls year-round, and the number of classes there are), but the community is involved in the art education and appreciation of the students. The Everyone But Senior Art Show is an event that showcases student art, but it is open to the public, so community members can see the artwork being created in their city by the students.
“We had a great turnout, there were tons of parents, families, teachers, and community members that got to see what we do here,” art teacher Sophia Stasiak said.
Lakewood makes an effort to support its youth, especially in the arts, and that is incredibly evident when you go to The Everyone But Senior Art Show. The entire art atrium is full of students, families, friends, and neighbors who want to see the incredible work they have done this year in their art classes.
