A collaborative student exhibit that combines poetry, art, film, music and theater got its start from a fortune cookie.
Called A Fortunate Inspiration, the exhibit features work by about 20 students enrolled in Central High School’s International Baccalaureate program and is one of several exhibits that will be showcased in center city during the First Friday Art Walk, set for 6–9 p.m. April 1.
Central High’s exhibit will be at the Creamery Arts Center, 411 N. Sherman Parkway.
The first step in putting together the exhibit entailed students in the IB writing class cracking open fortune cookies and using the messages as the inspiration for poetry, says Nichole Lemmon, who teaches Central’s IB film class.
One poem was chosen and shared with film students, who created a film based on it. Next, the film was shown to art students who then created paintings and other works of art. Those were shown to music students, who wrote original compositions, which then became the basis of a student-produced play. About 20 IB students participated in Fortunate Inspiration.
The catch: Only the poet actually knows what the fortune cookie’s prediction actually says.
“The night of the exhibit is when it’s all revealed,” Lemmon says. “It’s like an educational game of telephone, if you will, where we’re just passing this concept along to different students, and they don’t know the original idea.”
Lemmon says the exhibit – the second for IB program students – was the brainchild of drama teacher Gretchen Teague.
“We’re trying to build on it each year and make it include more of the IB curriculum,”
Lemmon says, noting that music competition wasn’t part of the inaugural exhibit last year.
Following artist introductions at 6 p.m., Lemmon says each component of the exhibit will be presented in a cyclical manner, allowing patrons to follow the creative process.
The creation of the exhibit fits well with the inquiry-based learning focus of the college-preparatory IB program, Lemmon says.
“We want kids to think through a process independently. We want them to use the world around them as inspiration,” she says. “We want them to take their individual ideas and collaborate as a group.”
Lemmon says Fortunate Inspiration at the Creamery is just one exhibit featuring IB students’ work on April Fools’ Day.
Other student work also will be featured at Art Walk venues.
• At Drury University’s Pool Art Center Gallery, 940 N. Clay St., an opening reception will be held for the Annual Student Competitive Exhibition, which will remain at Pool Art Center through April 29, according to www.drury.edu/pacgallery.
• Evangel University’s Bellwether Gallery, 600 W. College St., Ste. 116, features an exhibit of work by 12 graduating seniors. Photography, graphic design, drawing, printmaking and painting are included. The exhibit will be displayed through the end of April, according to
www.evangel.edu.
• Missouri State University’s Student Exhibition Center, 838 E. Walnut St., presents the art department’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Studio Art Exhibit, featuring works of students who are completing the requirements for their BFA degrees. Angela Evans’ sculptures will be showcased, along with paintings and drawings by Carl Glaser, with the exhibit running through April.[[In-content Ad]]
