There are scenes of self-love and -loathing, mythological creatures in the night and relationships with friends and family.
These are the fine art pieces picked for the 20th annual Emerging Talent exhibit and created by Grade 12 students in School District 43 who — come September — will be studying to be artists, graphic and product designers and illustrators at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, at top art schools on the east coast and around the United States.
Their work, which will be unveiled at a reception at Coquitlam’s Evergreen Cultural Centre on Sunday afternoon, represents their end-of-term assignments and the best from their portfolios.
But, mostly, the 70 pieces in the show represent how teens today continue to push the envelope by experimenting with media — be it paint, clay, digital formats and photography — and express their deepest (and sometimes, darkest) thoughts and feelings.
“They are really showing their heart,” said Sibyl Liu, a Grade 12 student at Riverside secondary in Port Coquitlam who is a co-curator. “Sometimes, it’s a humorous way but often it’s a sad way.”
Retired SD43 art teachers Kelly Selden, Jerry Pietrasko and Gordon Foulkes judged this year’s entries, whittling down the 100 submissions from Tri-City students at Gleneagle, Heritage Woods, Port Moody, Terry Fox, Riverside, Dr. Charles Best and Centennial secondaries.
Coquitlam resident Arang Cho of Terry Fox had all three of her pieces chosen for the display: a large multimedia titled Blutasia and two paintings. The South Korean native, who has applied to Emily Carr and The Art Institute of Chicago, said she’s thrilled to see her work in a gallery for public viewing.
Gleneagle students Sylvia Wang, Cynthia Wang and Jessy Gao are equally excited.
Sylvia Wang has a clay sculpture called the Passage of Time (with books stacked in the back of its head), a two-month project she completed in Ceramics 12 under the direction of Charlotte Lightburn.
Cynthia Wang, who moved to Canada from China in Grade 9, also has a clay sculpture made in Ceramics 12, titled Secret; its hands, face and mouth are bound by red string.
And Gao has an unusual medium — acrylics painted on glass — completed in Melanie Stokes’ Art Careers’ class titled Wilted, showing the loss of beauty. As well, she has a pencil crayon image titled The Lady and The Vixen, where the female fox is wearing a cut-out from Gao’s pyjamas.
But for Elizabeth Yuan of Port Moody secondary, she’s seeing her computer-generated image remounted. Last year, her Rhythm of the Sea was selected to be part of a Los Angeles show at Gallery Nucleus called Aqualumina by water.org; however, she was unable to see it hung in person.
“To have this included in our local gallery with works from my peers is a unique experience,” she said.
• The reception for Emerging Talent is Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. with opening remarks at 2:30 p.m., at the Art Gallery at Evergreen (1205 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam). The show closes Feb. 19 when the People’s Choice award will be announced. Also, at 4:30 p.m., dancers with the Telus Youth Mentor Project will perform an ensemble work created by Joshua Beamish.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
