As the Hastings school district continues to return to  pre-Covid-19 conditions, many events which were canceled because of the virus are now being brought back for students to enjoy. Two of these events are the HHS Art Show and AP Art Show (a special showcase of work from students in AP art classes), both of which have been absent, in person, for the past two school years. This means that current HHS seniors are the only ones who will have experienced an in-person high school art show. And while students have means of sharing art digitally through social media, the experience of a single exhibition showcasing the collective artistic talent of the entire school at once is very special.

Notably, this year’s show will also be the first art show led by Mr. Cory Merchant and Ms. Lorienne Solaski, who joined the district in the 2019-2020 school year (in the months before the pandemic). When interviewed, Ms. Solaski said she felt a great sense of excitement around the events. She emphasized that the classroom, while certainly a positive work environment for students, is generally a place to hone skills and critique work in order to push students further. Thus, it can be nice to have a space to simply celebrate student work and to recognize how far each student has come as an artist. She emphasized this in regard to the AP art show specifically. In AP art classes, each student works with a single theme throughout the entire year called a “sustained investigation,” which forces each student to wrestle with a topic in creating a body of work that is especially “unique to each student,” allowing for immense “growth in [each student’s] individual styles” as well as their “work ethic and confidence.”

The general student art show is scheduled to take place on May 16th and 17th. Before that, on April 27th, is the AP Art Show. The former will be in the Cochrane Gym. The latter will have an opening reception from 6 to 8pm in the High School Lobby. Both exhibitions seem to be a great place to check out the artwork made by peers in HHS and are something to look forward to in the near future.