Art show shines the light on Albert Lea students

Student artists will get a chance to shine with the Albert Lea Art Center’s latest show.

The Elementary and Secondary Student Art Show opens today at 1 p.m. at Northbridge Mall. Students from kindergarten to 12th grade from all Albert Lea Area Schools and St. Theodore Catholic School are participating.

Raissa Byer, an art teacher at Albert Lea High School, said she believes the show has gone on since at least 2001, when she started at the district, and possibly longer than that.

Byer said she pulls from a variety of student ages and mediums when she is selecting art for the show. She also looked at the art’s subject and color usage, as she wanted to showcase a variety of art.

For ALHS art teacher Samantha Jerdee, it’s her first year picking art for the show. Jerdee said when picking art, if two pieces were very similar, she’d pick the one that stood out to her more so she could get a variety in her selections.

And Byer and Jerdee said there’s a wide variety of mediums, including photography, digital art and 3-D art.

Byer said the show has more space than it did before as it’s in Northbridge Mall instead of the former art center, and there are standing displays to put art up on instead of just the walls.

Byer said in past years there have been hundreds of entries. She estimated the high school would have around 100 entries and each elementary school could have 50 or more entries. Byer said there are about eight teachers working on the show as well as the Albert Lea Art Center.

Jerdee said she’s excited to see how everything turns out, and she said her students are excited.

In the past, Byer said the open house was very crowded in the former art center building and people could hardly move. She said a big crowd comes out to see the students’ artwork, including both families and the community in general.

Byer said it’s valuable to share the students’ art with the community and to celebrate the entire creative process.

She said the schools are a centerpiece of the community, and the show is a good way to connect with the people of the community.

 

If you go

What: Elementary and Secondary Student Art Show

Where: Northbridge Mall

When: Today-March 21; 2-6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays

Open house: 1-4 p.m. today