We’re BACK – The Woodson Art Museum Teen Art Council (TAC) is back in session and starting its second year. The TAC participants that met August 8 to kick off another year are creative, energetic high school teens who do a fantastic job of developing events for their peers. This year they’re planning to implement a teen-juried exhibition. The theme and title of the teen art exhibition is SPACE, which leaves plenty of room for interpretation by the artists. To share the endless possibilities of creative direction teens can take, I looked up the definitions of space. The Merriam Webster dictionary website http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/space offers ten definitions of space:
1: a period of time; also: its duration
2 a: a limited extent in one, two, or three dimensions: distance, area, volume b: an extent set apart or available space> space> c: the distance from other people or things that a person needs in order to remain comfortable space>
3: one of the degrees between or above or below the lines of a musical staff — compare line
4 a: a boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction space and time> b: physical space independent of what occupies it —called also absolute space
5: the region beyond the earth’s atmosphere or beyond the solar system
6 a: a blank area separating words or lines b: material used to produce such blank area; especially: a piece of type less than one en in width
7: a set of mathematical elements and especially of abstractions of all the points on a line, in a plane, or in physical space; especially: a set of mathematical entities with a set of axioms of geometric character — compare metric space, topological space, vector space
9: accommodations on a public vehicle
10 a: the opportunity to assert or experience one’s identity or needs freely b: an opportunity for privacy or time to oneself
Now TAC and I, as their advisor, must find ways to explore the final frontier and go where TAC has not gone before. At this point in the journey it’s time for TAC to spread the message about the exhibition and to distribute the guidelines to area high school students. Between now and April 14, 2012, the exhibition must be juried, installed and ready to open when the Woodson Art Museum’s presentation of NASA|Art: 50 Years of Exploration begins.
As we embark on this journey, TAC members will learn about exhibition development. October 27, they’ll meet with Museum staff members and find out how each contributes to exhibition development. Then they’ll take a behind-the-scenes tour guided by Andy McGivern, curator of exhibitions, and Jane Weinke, curator of collections. Each Museum staff member will assist and guide the TAC members as they journey into this new frontier.
TAC also has planned the Teens Go Social event on September 23, 7-9 pm. High school teens can meet and work with artist Thomas Hill, learn his techniques for creating wire sculpture, and experience the Wire Woodland installation. Bottom line: it’s a social event, with music, food, and friends.
TAC would like to welcome teens to their SPACE. If you’re interested in joining, contact me, Jayna Hintz, by calling 715.845.7010 or email me at jhintz@lywam.org.
