Student art to be featured at Charles City Art Center

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Arts Center and the Charles City School District will team up, starting Thursday evening, to celebrate the work of some local young artists.

The opening reception for the Charles City High School Art Show will be held from 5-7 p.m. at the Arts Center.

Charles City art teachers Tia McInroy and Brian Bohlen spent about six hours on Tuesday, while the rest of the school district was enjoying a day off due to the blast of winter weather, setting up and assembling the display.

As she placed some drawings on the wall Wednesday afternoon, McInroy said it was almost finished, and she thought she had an hour or two of work left to go.

“They’ve always been gracious enough to host us, and they make it really easy for us,” McInroy said of the Arts Center. “We’re fortunate that we get to curate the show as we like. We can hang and display each piece of art the way we think is best.”

McInroy said that about 50 student artists will have their work on display. The public is welcome to talk to the students who made the artwork at the reception Thursday evening. There will be refreshments, such as lemonade and cookies. The display will be up for about three weeks.

“Allowing us nearly a full month for a high school show is absolutely wonderful,” said McInroy.

She said the annual event typically has a good turnout.

“We usually get a few hundred people,” she said. “You’re going to see ninth- through 12th-grade artists exhibiting everything from drawings to paintings to sculpture, ceramics, a few graphic designs, photography and a few other things.”

McInroy said the event has been going on every year for as long as she can remember.

“I think there’s always been a high school art show at the Charles City schools,” she said. “Brian and I were in high school here 20-some years ago, and we were both in the art show. It has pretty much always been a thing. We’ve just carried it on.”

Art enthusiasts can expect an eclectic array of art disciplines and a variety of talent levels.

“I think there’s quite a bit of abstract work this year, so you’re going to get realism and you’re going to get abstract, and kind of everything in between,” said McInroy. “There will be various levels on display.

“We’ve chosen some of the ninth-grade standout artists who either have incredible talent or work incredibly hard, who we felt deserved to have a spot in the show. Then there will be juniors and seniors who have been pretty accomplished and have been doing it for a while.”

The Charles City Arts Center is located in the Carnegie Library on 301 Jackson Street and is open to the public from 1-6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free.