Kids In Focus Annual Exhibit 2017

The annual Kids In Focus exhibit was on view at Black C Art Gallery from April 27th through May 10th and displayed artwork done by local elementary school students.

Brentwood art teacher, Molly Kempson, explained her student's inspirations and technical skills learned throughout the school year.

"This year's Brentwood art curriculum has been heavily influenced by our local arts community and artists that take inspiration from the sciences. Upper grades have been inspired by Portuguese azulejo tiles and Gainesville's 352 Walls project, local oil painter Ellie Blair, and ceramic sculptor Ariel Bowman. Students learned skills in creating a repeat pattern, learning to shade and grid out drawings in graphic, hand-building and structural engineering in ceramics, and working from negative space with scratchboards.

Younger grades learned about natural history illustration and entomology through Maria Sybilla Merian, fabric dying and symmetrical patterns in Navajo textiles, and learning to show depth in an image through collage and oil pastel as they learned about African and South American rainforests. Students experimented with abstract expressionism using watercolors and resists, learned to manipulate clay into functional vessels, and worked on understanding how to represent the human figure. "