Expressions

Every year, schools across Muskegon County get to represent their artwork at the Muskegon Museum of Art’s annual Expressions exhibition, which showcases the artistic talents of students K-12 in the visual arts. The Middle and High School show reception will take place on Wednesday, April 30th at 5:30 PM at the MMA’s gorgeous, new and improved gallery. Art students at R-PHS are constantly creating new pieces to enter in exhibitions.

15 different pieces by R-PHS artists ranging in medium, style, and size will be present at the exhibition. Previously, Junior Jeffrey Church has been successful in using ink and decided to improve this year using a dip pen. His piece is a traditional 18x24, though he wishes it was a bit taller. The inspiration behind the piece is the tower tarot card simply because it “is really cool looking.” He describes the piece as a test of his technical abilities, and decided to enter it into the museum because it is “by far (his) best piece this year.” Jeffrey certainly displayed his skills as an artist by creating a piece with wonderful contrast in values and a compelling scene.

Junior Brooke Mulder took her acrylic painting to a larger scale with the goal to “gather more attention” and “have room to put more things to engage those who look at it.” Acrylic paint is a medium that Brooke is familiar with and loves to use. The process of creating the painting had its trials and tribulations, including a lack of confidence and difficulty conveying her message. The original idea Brooke had for her painting changed in some ways during the process of creating it. Nonetheless, she proved to be successful in creating a well-composed and interesting piece.

Senior Ma’Kaia Riley-McGuffey has pushed her art to the next level. Her entry is an approximately 16x16 graphite portrait displaying great skill of blending values and capturing features and expression. Graphite is Ma’Kaia’s favorite medium and what she has the most experience with. She decided to challenge herself by drawing on a larger scale. While acknowledging that it is currently one of her most developed pieces, Ma’Kaia felt it was the one to submit to the show because “it showed both skill and through (her) little sister a sense of home, happiness, and meaning.” Ma’Kaia’s art piece has also earned her the prestigious ribbon award at the MMA.

When it comes to creating art, our motives and driving factors differ; but one thing art has in common is self-expression. Exhibitions like Expressions allow young artists a chance to put it on display, whatever those feelings and reasons may be. There is a large amount of effort and talent within the walls of Reeths-Puffer High School.

The following students were chosen to represent R-PHS at the Muskegon Museum of Art’s spring exhibition: