Student talent on display at MVHS exhibit

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

Moapa Valley High School showed off its students’ talent through exhibits at the annual MVHS Art and CTE show held Monday night, April 22.

The show was held to celebrate “students’ imagination and artistry” as the theme “Visions Unveiled” was ably expressed.

MVHS art teacher, Donna Swanson-Forrester said the show still has some students who don’t fully grasp the concept of an art show, but they find out for themselves how wonderful it is when they see their works displayed.
“The coolest thing for me is seeing the progression of them from freshmen to seniors,” she said. “There is so much growth every year.”

The art show has been an annual event for around 12 years since former MVHS teacher Maria Chidester and Swanson began doing the juried show.
“I start stockpiling work at the beginning of the year,” Swanson said. She added the date is scheduled early in the school year.

However, due to the recent Heroes Night event being scheduled on the same night that the art show was scheduled for the past two years, Swanson said she thinks she will give credit to students for showing their art at the fair and keep a student art show for her advanced students.

The show included students’ work from art classes, ceramics classes, welding classes, woodshop classes and even a display of the FFA floral arrangement and Theater Tech finished products.

The Best of Show went to two students: senior Keeley Uri for a ceramics piece and junior Monroe Lee for her fine art piece.
“They are very willing to experience new things,” Swanson said of the two winners. “They learn more about themselves and are both phenomenal artists and very advanced thinkers.”

Uri, an advanced art student said she has found her love in ceramics and the Horror genre.
“The best thing about ceramics is you can fix errors,” she said.

Uri has been doing art since she was little and is a four-year art student at the school. She looks forward to continuing ceramics classes as she attends the University of Nevada-Reno next year, but will be focusing on her studies in biotechnology.

Her award-winning piece was titled “The One Who Reaches” and features a hand reaching out of the base.
Keeley is the daughter of William and Kristen Uri.

Lee said her piece titled “Niebolt Street House” was based on the house from the movie “IT” and she has had a love for the horror genre too.

The art assignment was to draw a house using the medium ink so she got the idea to draw the house from the movie.

“At first I thought this was really weird and hard using ink but I got the handle of it,” she said.
Lee plans on doing something in art after high school like illustration or graphic design. Her parents Brett and Esther Lee said she has been doing art since she was little. Even though she won with ink she still prefers using markers and colored pencils.
Lee is also the co-captain of the Pirate Motion Dance Team for next year.

Both champions were surprised at their art pieces winning and were appreciative of those who supported them.
Swanson said she reminds her students that this is an art show and is just the opinion of one or two people.
“This is a juried show, do not let it decide if you are a good artist or not,” she said.