After two years of hard work, the senior IB Art students put on an extremely successful showcase that took place on April 19. The event was held at the Olympic Mills Congress building and consisted of 19 artists who have dedicated time throughout their junior and senior years to creating a portfolio consisting of 8-13 pieces that followed a theme of their choice. Some of the featured themes included mythology at rest, exploring various emotions, portraiture, and architecture.

The showcase itself was a massive success and provided students with an atrium-style, formal space to reveal what they had been working on.

IB Art teacher Emily Pratt described the process of going out to the Olympic Mills Congress building weeks ahead of time to give students the opportunity to choose which space and wall would fit their work the best. Then, the artists got to hang their own work and dive into the technical aspects of an art show.

“They had to get the lighting right, write their artist’s statements, titles, and exhibition text for each piece,” says Pratt.
Following this process was the rewarding experience of ordering food, sending out invitations, and finally, the reception on April 19. Over 100 people attended including parents, teachers, and administrators, and there was even live flamenco classical guitar music being played.

“It’s a really rigorous thing to do. It’s almost like a BFA program, but it was good. It was probably the most successful show I’ve had in the seven years I’ve taught here,” Pratt notes.

The students walked away from the experience feeling like it was a success as well, and were pleased with the outcome.
“The exhibition itself was very fun because it just got to bring a lot of people together to look at the art and what we’ve been working on for so long. It’s always hard with art to get to a place where you’re satisfied with everything that comes out of it, but overall it was really fun,” says senior IB Art student Scarlett Svoboda.

All in all, the showcase could not have gone better, and students considering joining the IB Art program at Cleveland should consider the opportunity of participating in an event like this.

Svoboda’s advice is to “be prepared to put in the time to work on stuff and really devote yourself to the artwork. And also just have fun with it, because it’s a fun class!”