Friday, April 17, previously was planned as the local showcase of student artistic creativity at what would have been the 91st annual Logan County Music and 52nd annual Art Festival, featuring top art work and musical selections presented by pupils from Benjamin Logan, Indian Lake and Riverside school districts.
While the event was canceled this year as a result of the coronavirus shutdown, the three area school districts have found ways to honor their students’ talents through online and social media art galleries, some of which were posted this week.
Indian Lake High School hosted a “virtual art show” at hs.ils-k12.org, so parents and the public can still appreciate the talent of many Indian Lake High School Art students. The art show also is available at the Indian Lake Schools Facebook page or Instagram account can view the ILHS Virtual Art Show 2020.
This slide show features more than 170 original pieces drawn, designed, painted and sculpted by Indian students in grades nine through 12. Art teacher Paige Dukowitz-Holt said each piece is unique and personal.
“This isn’t even all of the amazing work that these students got to create this year. There was so much that they had taken home or didn’t have the chance to finish because of the shut down. These students are amazing and there is no way to describe how proud I am of each of them.”
Riverside Schools also has showcased student artwork from all grade levels this week via its Facebook page that staff said would have been in the countywide exhibit.
Friday, the district also honored senior Levi Godwin as the Outstanding Art Student for 2019-20 school year. He plans to study animation at Eastern Michigan University in the fall.
“Levi has been an amazing art student since he was in junior high. Throughout his four years of high school art, he has been an incredibly strong artist that improved a lot every year,” his art teacher Adam Huber said.
“The last two years, I watched Levi’s skill take a huge jump forward and was producing really strong pieces of art consistently. His ability to create strong pieces in almost any medium is really impressive. Levi is looking to major in animation and he really dove heavily into learning the iPad program ‘Procreate.’
“I was amazed at the level of work he was creating and how well he was operating what is considered one of the top Art Apps in the world.”
Benjamin Logan Schools and the BLES Unified Arts/Specials Facebook pages also have been regularly sharing student artwork throughout the shutdown.
Dukowitz-Holt said every one of the pieces of the virtual show would have been featured at the Logan County Fine Arts Festival and each one would have been matted, framed or displayed for maximum effect. Instead this year, she photographed each piece.
Capturing the texture, emotion, detail and skill in a piece is difficult when hosting an art show online. However, the art instructor said she felt that the students’ hard work and creativity deserved to be recognized publicly.
Indian Lake Schools will host Virtual Art Shows for Indian Lake Middle School and Indian Lake Elementary School artists in the coming weeks.