The school year is wrapping up, with seniors’ last day on May 23 and underclassmen’s last day on May 30. Everyone has worked incredibly hard this year to keep their grades up, finish things on time, and submit high-quality work. To celebrate the hard work of the graduating senior class, Lakewood High School puts on the “Senior Art Show,” featuring work from every senior who has taken an art class this year.
The Senior Art Show means a lot to those about to graduate; it showcases the hard work they have put into these classes over the last 4 years. Seniors in Art 4, AP 2-D design, and AP Photography had the honor of decorating and displaying their work on fold-out boards in the center of the art atrium. The walls, windows, and halls in the atrium were decorated with other works by the seniors. Sketchbooks were out on display, photo books, ceramic pieces, fiber and textile projects, and works that did not fit on boards helped to fill the space. The show featured work from over 100 seniors at LHS.
“The show is a culmination of all the work done from freshman year to senior year for many of our students,” Dayna Hansen said. “We’ve included over 100 senior artists this year, including art 1, art 2, art 3, art 4, and our elective classes, fiber arts, ceramics, and photography.”
Each senior with work in the show showcased the skills they’ve learned over the past 4 years.
AP 2D students, art four students, and AP photo students could display their work on personal boards that exhibited their sustained investigation portfolio, as well as what they’ve done in 4 years of practice. The art show took place from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and in that time, community members, family members, and classmates walked through the atrium to take in all the work developed during the seniors’ high school careers.
This year’s art show showcases the unique relationship the seniors in the art department had this year. If you were to look at the artwork, you would find photos of other seniors as models or in reference photos for art pieces. This shows the comfort that the senior artists had this year with each other. It became a running joke in the department of how often senior Nikita Budway was used in other artists’ work.
“This year’s art show stands out because it is a community of artists that have really worked together,” Hansen said. “A lot of the portraits and photographs you see are intermingled. it shows the teamwork and collaboration that happened throughout the art atrium.”
The show was open to the community and judges who gave out ribbons to seniors whose work they found exceptional. Some of these ribbons came with cash prizes, such as the Best in Show Award, The Best Photo Award, and The Best Painting Award. These were not the only categories, as there were awards from previous art teachers that seniors could also win. Seniors who won awards or placed in any of the categories could see how influential their work can be. They spent all year working on these projects and pieces; recognizing them in front of a large group is very important.
“It meant a lot to see my own artwork up somewhere and to see others’ artwork and seeing their feelings and thoughts they put into a piece on display,” senior Ayla French said.
The art show itself was a fantastic experience for these seniors, and a big part of that experience involved setting up the art show. The seniors were assigned their boards right before spring break and began to work on them as soon as break was over. Seniors who had a board got to change the color of the paper, hang up all their work, create a name tag for their work, and curate their space to fit their best works from the past 4 years.
“I have a lot of fun with the senior art show,” Nikita Budway said. “It was a great thing to set up and to do it alongside my peers was even better.”
Some of the senior artists had other responsibilities besides setting up the show. A video was needed for the award ceremony that showcased the art department, ribbons that were won needed to be made, and a slideshow of all the seniors’ moments in art had to be put together.
“I spent a lot of time helping set up for the art show, so it kind of felt like a big accomplishment when it was all put together and done,” French remarked.
The show was the crown jewel of the class of 2025’s time in the art department. Anyone who attended the show could feel the hard work and dedication that the seniors put into all of their pieces. The senior art show could be one of these students’ last experiences with art in an educational setting. Some of the seniors will continue to study their craft in college, but most students are now done. The senior art show is important to show everything the seniors have done since their freshman year and to recognize them for all their efforts.
