Artist: Patrick Schmid

Senior artists go virtual

Katy Wood Hills·April 28, 2020

If you had taken a stroll through the studios of Colorado Academy’s Ponzio Arts Center before March 13, 2020, you might think you were walking through the studios of a famous New York City art collective. The printers in the photo lab were surrounded by empty ink cartridges that had emptied their contents onto hundreds of pages of photographic paper. Tubes of paint were used up, brushes looked tired from wear. The prop shelves in the green screen room were bursting with unique items to film. Clay pots were fired and ready to be glazed. Before March 13, the Main Gallery had featured the work of 14 Seniors’ Portfolio Shows.

Following the stay-at-home order, there were 11 Senior artists who had not yet had their Portfolio Shows. They had to set aside their disappointment that the show many of them had dreamed of for years would not look like they had envisioned. They had to find a way to show their hard work and creativity to their audience—virtually.

In a short amount of time, they documented their work, and, collaborating with their team and the visual arts faculty, designed virtual galleries in which to “hang” their work. These artists modeled for our community how to rally and move forward when faced with an obstacle and disappointment. Little did they know that the world would need their art more than ever.

Virtual Art Shows 2020 that went live: