Students in the Visual Arts and Media Academy (VAMA) at W.H. Croxford High School in Airdrie are showcasing their independent art work this Thursday evening, and invite the public to come take a look.
Visitors can wander through the school June 9 and see not just the VAMA Adademy’s art show, but listen to the sounds of the Cavalier Music Academy (CMA) of Creative Arts and Sciences and experience the dramatics of the Croxford Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA).
Art installations will be scattered throughout the building within all the main spaces, explained Vernon Gray, VAMA’s fine arts teacher.
Gray said a smaller-scale celebration of learning was held last December to showcase what the students had learned up until that point in the school year.
Due to COVID-19, that art show was limited to just the families of the students at scheduled intervals, but the June 9 showcase will be the academy’s first full-fledged public art show since the pandemic began in the spring of 2020.
“We spend the first part of the year learning about all the various mediums and skills and… learning a lot about design,” Gray said. “Then in late February or early March, [the students] come up with a proposal for an independent project that they work on for six or seven weeks.”
Students work on their projects, which consist of a series of work, every day in class. It could be a film, a series of paintings, or photography, Gray said – whatever medium they decide to use.
The students are required to have a mini art show, taking place on June 9, when each of them have to promote with media and graphic pieces just as an artist would promote their art show when working in the community.
“June 9 is an arts show that includes all their smaller shows and we add the drama and music – doing a culmination of all their work from the last few months as well,” Gray said.
Some examples of the work on display include a series of collage work on the female body image by Valeria Gutierrez, a VAMA 20 student, as well as floral paintings and digital work by her fellow classmate, Ayesha Rana.
Another student, Halt Quo, worked on a series of character development through acrylic paintings that will be part of the art show as well.
“My project, I did it based on a musical that I really like: Heathers: the Musical,” said Jenna Acheson, a Grade 11 student. “I did five digital paintings and I made them as detailed as I could to challenge myself and I think I'm presenting them with some of the music in the background, so that will be kind of fun.”
Acheson said she’s excited to see everyone’s work on June 9 during their first public art show.
Art was a passion she always wanted to pursue, she said, and she now plans to get into character design.
“I figure the best way to pursue that career in art is to get all the credits and as much experience as I can,” she said about why she chose to join VAMA.
Since her first year in the academy last year, she said she has experimented with different media, giving her a lot more freedom in the kind of art she can create.
“Last year we did a lot of theory and understanding colours and line work and how it all comes together,” she said.
Eventually her plan is to attend the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary to pursue its character design course. Her long-term dream is to create a popular comic.
“I want to be able to share stories with people – and my art as well of course,” she said, adding she could see herself experimenting with video game characters.
Students at W.H. Croxford High School have the option of focusing on specific career pathways via several learning academies offered by the school starting in Grade 10. The academies are pitched to students in Grade 9, when they can put in their applications for the following school year.
“In [VAMA], art, photography, video, graphic arts, all that mixes together,” Gray explained.
He added Croxford also has an English teacher who applies each academy focus into their English learning.
Currently, Gray has 27 students in VAMA and anticipates that number to increase to 38 in the next school year. Sixteen of his students are in Grade 10, while 10 are in Grade 11 and one is in Grade 12.
The public is welcome to join the celebration of learning at W.H. Croxford High School on Thursday, June 9 between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
