Elmhurst College will celebrate young artists and public-school art programs from across the Chicago area when it hosts the 14th Annual High School Exhibition starting on January 11.
The two-week exhibition, featuring artwork submitted by 10 high schools, will feature hundreds of paintings, prints, sculptures, videos and computer art, and works in other media.
Every January, the entire space of Elmhurst College’s Founders Lounge, from floor to ceiling, is hung with artwork created by talented high school students.
“This is both a wonderful display and a testament to the excellent teaching done by the art faculty in these high schools,” said Suellen Rocca, director of exhibits at Elmhurst College.
“In this era of cutbacks in arts education, our exhibit is critically important because it supports high school art departments, visual-arts educators and the work of their students,” she added. “We want to make the strongest statement possible about the value of art to human development.”
The high schools that will be represented include:
- Addison Trail, in Addison
- East Leyden, in Franklin Park; and West Leyden, in Northlake
- Lyons Township, in Western Springs and LaGrange
- Maine West, in Des Plaines
- Morton East, in Cicero; and Morton West, in Berwyn
- Proviso West, in Hillside
- Willowbrook, in Villa Park
- York, in Elmhurst
During a reception to celebrate the artists featured in the exhibition, the students will visit the College’s art studios and tour its renowned collection of Chicago Imagist and Abstractionist art. The College also will award several $2,000 scholarships to students from each high school.
The 14th Annual High School Exhibition at Elmhurst College runs from Friday, January 11, through Wednesday, January 23, in the Founders Lounge of the Frick Center. The Frick Center is open days and evenings. The artists reception will be held on Wednesday, January 16, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Founders Lounge. Both the exhibition and the reception are free and open to the public.
The High School Exhibition is one of roughly a dozen shows that Elmhurst College will present this academic year in three campus venues. For more information, please contact Suellen Rocca at (630) 617-6110 or srocca@elmhurst.edu.