Gallery • 6 Photos

Creative Pieces by a Lower School Class

In so many ways, Newman’s art program is special and goes beyond what many people would imagine of a high school program. Even with so many classes offered for students to explore the arts, the program goes beyond instruction in the class as it invites students to explore art in a gallery setting. 

Recently, Newman housed several pieces from the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in the Reynolds Ryan Gallery next to the auditorium. These pieces were carefully selected to surround a theme of human presence and connection to others and nature. In response to the pieces curated by the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, students were given the opportunity to create pieces of art that displayed their reaction and influence. 

Once the pieces from the Ogden Museum were in the gallery, teachers encouraged students to make art in response to the pieces in the gallery. When finished, the student’s pieces were displayed in and around the gallery among the curated pieces. The works ranged from all across the school with classes in lower school participating with creativity and color, classes in middle school adding powerful photographs, and with high schoolers adding varying medians of art. Personally, this experience to react to a professional piece of art was amazing because it allowed me to create a drawing that displayed the influence of a particular piece that stood out to me.

On the night of the gallery opening, many visitors and families who included art in the gallery gathered together to see how all of the pieces connected, and the energy of all of the pieces together was incredible. I look forward to more similar opportunities with the Newman art program because the result of the gallery with all of the art was extraordinary.