The art, design and technology department at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) presented this year’s Evening of the Arts on Wednesday with colorful displays that emphasized innovation and experimentation in art.
Visitors found drawings playing with shape, form, color and line in the hallways, while paintings of varying medium and abstract materials hung on walls nearby. Hand-crafted light fixtures dangled from above, and pottery that pushed the bounds of functionality stood on podiums.
New exhibitions this year included a fashion show displaying student designs, a live pottery throwing show, and 3-D printers.
“We tried a lot of new ways of interpreting and creating things,” said Tiffiney Shoquist, who teaches drawing and painting, art history, and fashion and sewing.
Third-year student Nyoka Walters’ “Black Boys” used mixed media, placing crochet braids and puffy paint atop an acrylic painting of her two younger brothers. Adding abstract visual elements helped her express a sense of youth and innocence, she explained.
“Black boys, especially in America, are really villainized and masculinized,” she said. “I just wanted to show black kids being black kids.”
As always, the annual arts presentation included boards where graduating seniors displayed their favorite art works from their high school years.
Gabby Brooks, a senior, displayed her fashion design portfolio, featuring five hand-drawn models sporting bold, colorful outfits.
“I like to play with form, shape, color, and abstraction.” she said. She plans to study fashion design at Savannah College of Art and Design in the fall.
Tobias Russel-Schaffer’s senior board included pieces from his four years of photography. He described his artistic style as desaturated macro-nature and portraiture photography.
“It’s a lot of taking any opportunity you can to do art, even when you might not feel like doing it,” he said. Russel-Schaffer will study photography at Rochester Institute of Technology in the fall.
In the technology section, the exploration was just as prevalent.
Second-year student Brody Royal created a super computer, using an array of micro computers to solve mathematical problems.
When asked about his intent for the project, he said, “To experiment.”