The quantity is amazing and the quality is shocking, but there’s even more that’s exciting and powerful about Killeen ISD’s 23rd annual art exhibition that opened Monday and continues through March 4.
Once school district leaders welcomed guests and cut a ribbon at the Killeen Civic and Conference Center, waves of students and family members surged inside like treasure hunters in search of inspiration.
Art exhibit photo gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/killeenisd/albums/72177720332187711
Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Will Baker spent at least an hour before the opening walking through the ballroom-turned art museum, then continued to examine the hundreds of drawings, paintings, sculptures and other works.
He and Board Member Oliver Mintz joined art teachers in the ribbon cutting and were among the senior district leaders choosing favorite pieces for recognition.
More than 6,200 students make up KISD’s middle school and high school visual art programs and a large number of those submitted work that made it into the exhibit. About half the district’s art faculty also created original art pieces for display.
“I really enjoy my art teacher most of all,” said eighth-grader Desirae Runde in reference to Union Grove Middle School art teacher Jordan Love.
“Mr. Love lets us express what we feel comfortable with. I like seeing what people think of our art and growing along with it.” She said she especially enjoys creating patterns and working in textiles.
“This is very unique. Not many people get this opportunity. I’ve been to the KISD show before. I especially like to see the high school art. It’s really interesting.”
Art teacher James Elam, now at Early College High School, was on hand for KISD’s first art show 23 years ago. He expressed pride in the show’s longevity and its growth and development.
“I think this is important because this is a chance for our community to come out and see what our students do. This is all done in our rooms and hangs on our walls,” he said.
“We want to showcase talent and artists, but also just letting people celebrate. You can tell there are kids who put their heart and soul into it. That’s why they are here,” said the art teacher.
“It’s nice to see some parents I don’t usually see. I can reaffirm some things and brag on them. It’s one of the best things KISD does for us. They have kept it going.”
Speaking to the audience members of art students, family, friends and teachers, Baker pointed out that science shows the power and complexity of creativity like fine arts.
“I’ve lost many hours seeing what your children have done,” said Baker. “When you look at human thought, at the top of that the most complicated type of human thinking is creativity. This is a celebration of that.”
“Our art teachers develop not only amazing artistry among our students, but also future ready skills,” said Fine Arts Director Morganne Davies, pointing out the multi-faceted portrait of an art student.
The art exhibit is free and open to the public all week.
The Creative Canvas Art Festival is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, also at the Killeen Civic and Conference Center. It includes projects for families to work on together as well as a full program of song and dance group performance.