Even the cold and snow could not dampen the enthusiasm of visitors at the Colorado Academy 2019 All-School Arts Festival.
The very-popular pizza truck raced to keep up with demand.
No surprise that there was a line for the pizza truck, but there was also a line of students standing in the snow at the shaved ice truck! And, with more than 1,000 pieces of art on display, live music, and art-making activities around campus, there was something for everyone.
Nilaya Majmudar and her family enjoy art displayed in the Lower School.
How many pieces of art are displayed?
Every student is represented with at least one piece of art. More than 1,000 pieces of art are displayed, representing students in Pre-K through Grade 12.
Students from the Lower School view art on display in the Upper School.
How long does it take to get ready for the show?
Even with volunteer help, preparation for the All-School Arts Festival, which includes matting, framing, and labeling, consumes the entire month of April.
Rohan Mrig shows off his art in the Lower School.
How long does it take to hang all the art?
It takes a full week to hang everything.
Morgan Matijevich experiments with different media in the Ponzio Arts Center.
How many Visual Arts faculty are involved?
All six art and photography teachers are involved, including Katy Hills, Angela Hottinger, Stashia Taylor, Jesse Myers, Alecia Maher, and Gwylym Cano.
Middle School students help with art-making stations around the Lower School.
What types of media are included?
Students display their drawing, painting, printmaking, digital art, ceramics, papier-mâché and polymer clay sculpture, sewing, weaving, felting, and mixed media.
Shira Toren and Marshall Golden work on a canvas in the Ponzio Arts Center.
Who was the professional artist and what was she teaching?
Shira Toren is an American-Israeli artist who helped students experiment with her unique techniques of layering plaster, graphite, and paint. Born in Tel-Aviv, Toren moved to New York City to study fine art and design. She works in her studios in Brooklyn, N.Y. At the Arts Festival, she invited people to work on two of her large-scale canvases, each canvas demonstrating two very different stages of her process. One canvas involved applying plaster to the canvas with trowels and spatulas and leaving intricate textures. The second canvas involved rubbing graphite powder onto the dried, plastered canvas. This interactive demonstration helped students realize how many layers go into a work of art. The finished product is on display in the Ponzio Arts Center Gallery. CA’s Upper Schoolers studied Toren’s work this fall and did an entire unit using her techniques and media. Examples of the work they did is on display in the northeast hallway of the Upper School. Shira Toren’s work will be on display in the Ponzio Arts Center through May 20.
