Students showcase art at city hall
City, school connection to improve
A women takes a picture of student artwork at the gallery in St. Louis Park City Hall. The gallery, which took place Feb. 10, was created to showcase student artwork to the public.
February 11, 2020
After participating in her first art show, sophomore Lili Jampsa said she enjoyed the opportunity to present her artwork to the community.
“I was in art class and we were working on this drawing for a long time and someone had randomly come in and started looking at the drawings and he picked mine to be in the show,” Jampsa said. “It feels pretty unique, it’s something I’ve never done so after experiencing it for the first time feels pretty good.”
According to sophomore Ava Hanson, she appreciates the opportunity to showcase her work.
“I really like art. I’ll be doing classes with it next year so hopefully they will choose me again,” Hanson said. “I’m really grateful they chose mine.”
Community organizer Darius Gray said it’s important that City Council and Park work together on projects like the art fair so students can form a connection with city hall.
“It’s a great partnership between the school and the city. I love when I can bring young people and folks of color into city hall so they can interact with our elected representatives and they can see this is where decisions about everyday lives in St. Louis Park get made,” Gray said
According to art teacher Martha Ortman, art shows give recognition to students who don’t typically receive it.
“It showcases what students can do that might not normally get ‘hey good job’ they might not be in sports, they might now be in other things so it’s kind of a ‘hey you did some cool stuff let’s celebrate you,’” Ortman said.
Hanson said in order to have good artwork you must persist even when it’s not your best piece.
“I think for art class, trust that artwork gets better as it goes because I’ve had many times where I’m like ‘oh this looks horrible’ but in the end it all looks good no matter what level, it all looks good,” Hanson said.
Jampsa said confidence is key when it comes to art and understanding all opinions are different.
“Don’t be scared of what other people think, you might think it is super bad but others may think it’s really good,” Jampsa said. “Be confident in your artwork even if it’s different than others.”
According to Ortman, if students are interested in showcasing their work they should contact her.
“If someone wanted to (share their work) I would say maybe talk to me and maybe we do something on our own,” Ortman said. “The Nest has art shows every two months, they have student artwork and an art opening.”
