Mid-April, the St. Vrain Valley School District hosted its annual ‘Unframed’ art show, and many of the local Erie students got to share their work with other students, families, and friends. 

Located at the Boulder County Fair Grounds, students from kindergarteners to seniors have the opportunity to share what they created over this past school year with the public eye. With over 50 schools included from around the district, various skill levels, art medians, and concepts represent what each student views as art. 

The community art show has formed is an unreal experience for everyone who participates. Supportiveness spreads through the air as students share common interests with everyone in the community. Zeke White has been in the show since his seventh grade year, so he has seen the show grow as new faces join every year. “The art show is unique because it’s the whole district, so it’s not just our school and we get to see pieces from even the local elementary and middle schools.”  

Variety in the show is presented through the vast selection of mediums students use to their full capabilities. Some of these include acrylic paintings, pencil drawings, oil pastels, paper mache, ceramic pieces, and even variations of 3D art. 

Though every school is different, at Erie students get to help choose what pieces of theirs get put into the show, if they want to be in the show at all. White explains that, “some of the teachers might tell you that specific pieces of yours might look good in the art show, but this year [my teacher] suggested one piece of mine to put in the show but instead we decided together to put my painting in since I liked it better.”

Deciding what work gets put into the show is still something the art teachers have to help guide the students with. Garrett Coles is another one of the art teachers at Erie, and he says the teachers come together and instead of just deciding which pieces are the best, “we look at what work is standing out within each medium and what technique works best with the materials the students were provided with. We try to include variety when making the final decisions on what we submit for the show.”

When it comes down to creating the art, the students have creative freedom to produce what their heart desires for the specific median they are working on in class. Renita Orellana is one of the four art teachers at Erie High, where Orellana explains that Erie’s art department philosophy is, “focused on letting the students have control over the creative process, where we [as teachers] give guidelines around what mediums students are learning and what techniques they use, but the concepts behind the work is where students take over.” 

Once the show kicks off and all the students’ artwork is shown to the public, specific admin members and teachers through the district award a blue ribbon to pieces that stand out from the rest. Many of Erie’s students were given the opportunity to receive one of these ribbons on their pieces.

In the beginning, the SVVSD Art Show was created to showcase artwork from students around the district, and to many, it has accomplished just that since then. It’s amazing to see what all the young artists are capable of creating and where they will go with the talent they have.