Canterbury students show work at local gallery
Posted Feb 5, 2010 By Sheena Bolton
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EMC Entertainment For the second year, the Dale Smith Gallery will be showcasing the works of eight lucky graduating fine art students from Canterbury High School.
Eight lucky Canterbury High School art students will have their work showcased at the DaleSmithGallery downtown during the month of February, including Jason Guo's Japanese paper and semi transparent paper with small Ziploc bags that contain dried garlic skins and garlic dipped in wax.
The exhibition, which will take place from Feb. 5 to March 2 at the gallery's location at 137 Beechwood Ave., will feature pieces from Rose Anderson, Hannah Bailey, Anna Cumyn, Tricia Flohr, Jason Guo, Lisa Sleiman, Darya Tonkykh and Alica Zhang.
The idea for the student exhibition was developed last year by gallery owner Dale Smith after speaking with Canterbury arts teacher Tim des Clouds.
"I just thought it would be a great idea. I'm a really big supporter of Canterbury and think they have an excellent art program," said Ms. Smith, adding that she leaves the hard decision of choosing the students who get to have their artwork displayed to the arts teachers at the high school.
"It's a great opportunity for our students to get involved in the professional aspects of a gallery," said Maggi Spence, head of the art department at Canterbury. "We choose those students who we think will go into the fine arts direction, as opposed to animation or other forms."
The chosen students are allowed to select what piece they want to contribute, and Ms. Smith does not put any restrictions on the accepted art forms.
"There will be a real variety, you will see acrylic on canvas paintings, mixed media, some paper work that looks really fascinating and two-dimensional. There will also be a mixed media sculpture and possibly some photography," explained Ms. Smith.
Through this experience, the students will get to see how a professional gallery works and what they have to do as artists when in an exhibition.
"It's an introduction for them into a commercial gallery space," noted Ms. Smith. "They are fully responsible for everything they require, they have to pay commission, meet deadlines by doing things like sending me high resolution images of the work and do their own framing."
Last year, one of the student pieces was sold to a Canadian art collector and another large piece on canvas was sold to a person who travels around the world supporting the arts.
"They were very excited about their purchases," Ms. Smith added. "Last year we had some very talented artists who I think, if they stay involved, will do some really interesting things."
Ms. Smith, who has been operating her gallery for seven years, said she plans to continue to showcase the artwork of Canterbury students each February.
"It's a lot of work on the part of the gallery and I'm not doing it as a money making exhibition," said Ms. Smith. "...The focus is really on the exhibition and giving them an opportunity to show in a commercial gallery."
The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
For more information visit www.dalesmithgallery.com.
