Families enjoy the opening of the Dearborn Public Schools City Wide Art Show April 5 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Students from across the Dearborn Public Schools district declared that art is their superpower, both with T-shirts and displayed work, during an April 5 opening at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.
The display, in the northeast lobby and the Padzieski Gallery, runs through April 26 at the center, 15801 Michigan Ave.
Jill Chochol, executive director of Student Achievement, said she was delighted to be gathering with the student artists and their families in person.
“We all know it has been three years since we celebrated our young artists by coming together as a community, and there is no better way to celebrate being together than to celebrate the accomplishments of our students,” she said at the opening reception. “We are all aware of the impact of this pandemic on our children, our families and what we do each and every day.”
Chochol said the students’ energy, creativity and inspiration continues to amaze her.
She said the work represented includes watercolors, pastel, metalwork, beads, clay, graphite, oil and other mediums.
Chochol said the show displays the work of about 400 young artists.
She congratulated the teachers who were able to facilitate the creation of art throughout remote learning while online, as well as the support of the parents.
“All of this creativity truly takes a village to support,” Chochol said.
Art teacher Susan Briggs said she is one of 35 art teachers in the district who are working to inspire students in their art rooms every day.
“This art show is just a small sample of the incredible things being created every day throughout the district,” she said. “I could not be prouder of my fellow art teachers, and the work of our talented students.”
Families enjoy the opening of the Dearborn Public Schools City Wide Art Show April 5 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.
Padzieski Gallery Curator Sasha Corder said it was inspirational to have the young artists and their work filling the gallery.
“It is a confidence booster and it is a family builder,” she said. “They can come and show their grandparents what they have been working on at school.”
Corder said she loves to see their faces light up when they enter the gallery and see their art on the wall.
“Imagine all the creative possibilities going forward,” she said.
Corder said students work during the entire school on the pieces displayed at the show.
“Tonight’s the time where they get to celebrate all that hard work,” she said.
Corder said it is also validating for them to see their art on display for others to enjoy.
“You’ve got a kindergartner’s work next to a 12th grader’s work, and they both look great,” she said. “To have that experience and to share it with your family and your friends and your community, and it is an accomplishment just to be picked to be in this show.”
Corder said two pieces of work per grade, per school, are chosen to be in the show.
Volunteer Colette Cullen, whose adult offspring are now pursuing artistic careers, gained their initial exposure to art through the Dearborn Public Schools. She said she enjoys the annual DPS art show.
“I love this, especially in these times, because kids need art more than ever, especially after the pandemic,” she said. “This is how we talk – through the arts, and I am so grateful that Dearborn is holding this and I am very excited about it.”
Lowrey Middle School art teacher Allison Runyan said she likes working with middle school students, because they are old enough to generate their own ideas, yet they still approach projects with an exuberant joy.
“They are old enough to be starting to be really creative, and they are having all these ideas, but they are still young and they are having fun, so we are able to create a lot of things and have a lot of fun in class,” she said.
Runyan said she has more students signing up for art classes than ever before, and some already have aspirations in design fields.
She said it is great to see the students transition from online to live learning again.
Runyan said seeing the show and the young artists’ energy all around her makes her smile.
“I am just so proud of them,” she said.
Twelve jurors’ choice awards were bestowed, with six in two-dimensional art media and six in three-dimensional art media.
The two-dimensional honorees are: Eman Saleh, second grade, Salina; Layan Baydoun, fifth grade, William Ford; Ola Ajami, eighth grade, O.L. Smith; Moises Gomez-Martinez, ninth grade, Dearborn High School; Danya Jamalaldin, 12th grade, Edsel Ford High School; and Kellan Houstan, second grade, Nowlin.
The three-dimensional honorees are: Meriem Boubacker, second grade, Snow; Eleanor Welton, fourth grade, Howe; Kole Catris, eighth grade, Dearborn Virtual School K-12; Riann Beydoun, ninth grade, Fordson High School; Wafa Aljahmi, 12th grade, Fordson High School; and Antonio Polo, S.E., Edsel Ford High School.
The Superintendent’s Award was bestowed upon Enna Dzinic, a fifth-grader at Lindbergh Elementary School.
The featured senior artists are Stella Rochon of Dearborn High School, Musa Selman of Edsel Ford High School and Jeneen Jadallah of Fordson High School.