ALMA
Among the sculptures, paintings and other assorted mediums on display at Northumberland Regional High School’s art show, it’s clear the Grade 12 students have honed their craft over the school year.
Sketches, paintings in a number of formats, sculptures and other endeavours were on display Thursday evening, eliciting great praise from guests.
Kalie Stevens-Rochon arranged an assortment of drawings and watercolour paintings during setup for the event when she spoke to The News about the show. But the most striking of Stevens-Rochon’s work was not drawn on paper or painted on an easel – it was affixed to a human face.
Stevens-Rochon was accompanied by her friend Karley Dixon, who served as a model to showcase the former’s skills in applying makeup. Dixon, sporting scales, horns and even a pair of pointed fangs, looked halfway between human and dragon.
When asked what inspired her to engage in makeup artistry, Stevens-Rochon said she got into the idea watching makeup artists on YouTube.
“I watched it, said I want to do that, found a bottle of glue, some cotton balls and face paint and went with it,” said Stevens-Rochon.
Of the dragon-like imagery, Dixon said, “I was on Pinterest one day, saw something I liked and I wanted to do it,” a process that eventually led Stevens-Rochon to work the idea and Dixon having an opportunity to externalize her love of dragons.
Across the room, Cole Burns, a Grade 12 artist who specializes in sketching and watercolour painting, was surrounded by several stylized images of familiar faces from pop culture, such as Darth Vader.
Several works on display at his table showcased his appreciation for pop culture –the origin of much of his inspiration, he said.
While many of the projects can be complex things that take much time to prepare, Burns reflected on how his projects “usually take most of a day. If they’re perfect, it can take two or three days to do so, but it’s not a very long process.”
That tidy, short prep time can lead to a lot of work to choose from when engaged in a major art project. Burns was far from indecisive when it came time to select what he wanted to put on display.
“I chose what was best first,” he said, referring to a sketch of the Star Wars character Boba Fett and boldly coloured rendition of the album art for Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, “and the others, I felt they were good enough for the show.”
Speaking of music, that was a major focal point of works exhibited by Madison Platt, a Grade 12 with everything from portraits of ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s rock stars to a painted, stylized acoustic guitar on display for the show.
“Music has been major,” Platt said, describing what inspired her colourful pieces. “I got a lot of inspiration form artists like Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, Led Zeppelin and The Doors.
Platt’s paintings were striking in their style and composition – something she attributed to the variety of styles. While some were in watercolour, some of the boldest ones were a combination of mediums, such as using chalk and acrylic paint to create images that “pop.”
“I really like mixing mediums. It flows, and you get a bit of a base that you can outline with colours,” said Platt.
Platt said it was a difficult decision to assemble a collection. She made her decisions for the show based on a desire to showcase the pieces with the most colour and detail.
Platt, who was at ease and candid describing her art and the processes, said the Thursday evening art show constituted “a round two for me,” given that she has already shown some of her work at New Glasgow’s Art At Night in May.
Art teacher Dawn MacKenzie-DeCoff said she was proud of all the students in the show, noting that “showing your work can be terrifying.”
“The pieces represent what they want to communicate – as an example of what they want to say or do,” said MacKenzie-DeCoff. “Some people are looking to get a message across, some people just like working with certain materials. For some, it’s building an idea or a form of expression – and for some, making art is just a pleasant quiet time.”
MacKenzie-DeCoff said the show and the art are “more of a form of expression, an output, as opposed to input.” This called it a good thing – with young people being in an era in which “there’s a lot of information comin
