Art show moves, Celina Record

Annual student art show moves to C-Town Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com May 19, 2016 The artwork of more than 200 Celina High School students will be displayed today as part of the school’s annual year-end Visual Arts Show. For the first time the show, held in years past in the school’s library, will take place at C-Town, 709 E. Pecan St. Celina High School art teacher Martie Furtick said the move was made in an effort “to make it more available to the community,” adding she expects more than 150 people to attend. The move also complements the efforts of the school’s 34-member art club, she said, who last fall coordinated with the city of Celina to paint homecoming themes and designs on windows of buildings on the downtown square to help promote art awareness locally. “We just want the community support to just recognize the work and effort that’s put into making some of these art pieces,” explained Ashley Schupp, who also teaches art at the school. “It’s not just arts and crafts. There’s a lot of skilled talent behind everything,” she said. Students enrolled in the school’s level 1-3 and advanced placement art classes as well as those taking ceramics and photography courses will have their work displayed at today’s show. “This time of the (school) year is challenging, but once they get all of their pieces in and … (are) looking at them, they’re real proud of them,” she said. Schupp said she hopes students and others who attend the show understand “how important being able to use your mind to create is. It is very hard to create something from nothing.” This year, 19 Celina High students participated in the Texas Art Education Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE) and one went on to compete in the state championships. “It’s real important to get the word out that most careers … have some type of art to support it,” such as commercial art, animation and architecture, Furtick said. “A lot of times the types of career paths that pay the most (are) when people are able to create,” Schupp explained, “whether it be a piece of artwork or a new system for a business. You have to come up with creative ways to implement new ideas. “I think it’s important to exercise your brain and to be creative,” she said, “and that’s what I try to tell my students.”