Amidst a buzzing gym sits a table of art: Ceramics and sculpture, sketchbooks and stickers, even a fully-handmade book entitled “The Patron Goddesses of Athens and Sparta”. But the real attraction is what’s beyond them, as easels of paintings inlaid with shattered glass surround the booth.
“I think it could be called like collage or mixed media, depending on the work,” senior Max Senter says about the paintings.
The annual art show hosts a variety of creatives, though this year, there were two additions – a commemoration of the school’s 50th anniversary, and one Max Senter. Even for his first exhibition, he found himself in the center of the gym, standing proud with all his works.
“The most exciting part is getting to show other people my art because a lot of it I posted on the Internet but getting real world exposure and there’s a lot of different sides”
And exposure he got. The buzzing crowd made waves to his booth throughout the day, sometimes large flocks, other times one or two stragglers, all brimming with interest over his glass-laden spectacles.
A supervisor at the art show, teacher Kelli Brobst, similarly gushes about the excitement of sharing artwork. But her adoration comes even before the Art Show is set in motion, when her students finally hear about it. “I love seeing what my students like, I love seeing them excited and then coming to me right away with what they want to do with their booths. And they’re just grand ideas of what they want to do with their booths.”
Booths, personalized and unique to each artist (or duo of artists), set the backdrop for each arrangement. For Senter, his was a collage of newspaper and sketches. Mostly his own, though, his sister got into the process as well. Small doodles of bears sit just behind “Rip My Heart From My Chest”, a painting with a papier-mâché heart emerging from it, and, of course, the signature glass shards.
A personal favorite of Senter’s lays just to his right. Two painted whale sharks swimming in tandem, scales made of reflections trailing up and around them, with the bolded words “I promise you are not alone” written above.
Why might this piece be his favorite? Well, the answer is pretty simple to Senter – “just because they are sharks.”
Though, on the table sits another important piece to this artist. He points to the canvas as he says “This is my second favorite piece because I have an emotional connection just with the general idea.” Quite similar to the sharks, glass permeates the painting, with words written in bold, blocky letters. However, instead of marine wildlife, the focus is an illustration of Senter as a child.
“Well, I’ve always kind of been in art,” he says. Surprisingly, it wasn’t his own interest that got Senter into painting. It was the opportunity to teach his younger family member. “He was younger than me, so I was teaching him.”
Years later, he’s determined to go beyond high school courses and shows. Now, being a tattoo artist is written in this senior’s stars. Recently he’d even gone to a tattoo convention and came back with his own: Inked onto his forearm is a mark of what he hopes to become. “I plan to make a career out of it.”