6th Annual Willamette Valley High School Art Competition

The winning entries of the 2009 high school art competition are on public exhibition through April 25. It's a beautiful show by many very talented artists from fourteen Oregon high schools.

It is a lot of work to participate in the competition, taking a strong commitment by teachers, students and families. THANK YOU for your dedication!

This year we had 70 winners in 13 categories. Last year we had 102 winners in 14 categories. Fewer schools submitted art this year.

Was the timing of the show affected by Spring Break schedules? How can we improve the program and encourage broader participation? Please post your comments, ideas, suggestions.

Let there be light

We are excitedly gearing up for the 6th annual Willamette Valley High School Art Competition, which will be open to the public from April 11 through April 25! This year fourteen schools submitted 214 entries in thirteen art categories. The award ceremony will be Saturday April 11 from 2-4pm.

As the winning art was selected I began laying out the room in preparation for hanging the show. Tuesday evening I turned out the lights in the gallery and had a beautiful surprise. The setting sun cast a triangle of light on a corner of one window pane in the gallery. By some cosmic coincidence, the triangle of light landed perfectly on a painting by Vicky Aceves of South Albany High School. Most of the painting is dark tones, with a bright, fiery, triangle at the bottom, and that is precisely where the sunlight fell!

Dressed for the 18th Century

Nancy Bryant's lecture, "Dressed for the 18th Century" was the final presentation in this year's Benton Lecture series.

She started her "reverse strip tease" in a chemise and gradually added all the pieces--corset, petticoat, hoops, etc--that upper class women in Europe and America wore in the 18th century. She donned replica jewelry, shoes and wig to complete the outfit.

Eighty people attended the lecture.