PORT ANGELES – ArtPaths Portfolio 2010, a show featuring works by Clallam County student artists, opens at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center with a reception from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Following on the heels of “Strait Art 2010,” the annual exhibition of Juan de Fuca region artists, this is the youth version when Clallam County student artists step into the limelight.
Now in its fifth year, the annual exhibition features two-dozen promising high school student artists, selected by PAFAC education director Barbara Slavik from nominations made by their teachers.
“The aim of the show,” said PAFAC director Jake Seniuk, “is to instill a sense of professionalism in ambitious students.”
In weekly sessions, from February up to the show’s opening, Slavik, in collaboration with their teachers, mentored and critiqued students to stimulate production of a coherent portfolio that will demonstrate their talents and hopefully launch them along future art paths.
“My biggest goal is always to help them try to find a voice of their own,” Slavik said. “I think that is the great challenge and reward of art, and in a larger sense is intrinsic to their development as aware human beings.”
Slavik worked closely with the art instructors in the county’s three largest high schools: Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks, to guide the student artists in developing their work to exhibition standards. The show is comprised of paintings, drawings, collage, ceramics and mixed media works that express a host of ideas, emotions and styles.
Port Angeles High School students participating are: Trisha Abbott, Lauren Corn, Bryanna Gentry, Jamaica DeLuna, Torrey Jakubcin, Anneliese Russell and Mike Wiley.
Sequim High School students participating are Austin Becker, Sage Brown, Emily Carel, Zane Carey, Sarah Donahue, Amie Griffith, Lindsey Hintz, Sheldon Johnson, Anna LaBeaume, Julianne Miller, Taylor Roads, Sara Schade and Zoei Zbaraschuk.
Forks High School students participating are Devin Chastain, Brett Crump, Melissa Estrada and Kendra Zellar.
Each participating artist is presented with a $50 gift certificate for art supplies at Olympic Stationers, supported by longtime ArtPaths underwriter The Hastings Trust of San Diego, Calif.
Olympic Stationers also contributed portfolio cases and additional drawing kits, and Karon’s Frame Center contributed labor in matting and glazing more than three-dozen art works.
The exhibition continues through July 4. The arts center, at 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd., is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Admission is free.
