As the first of a new Emerging Artists exhibit series, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) exclusively featured the artwork of students, faculty, and alumni of All Saints’ Episcopal School of Fort Worth (TX) at the city’s fall 2017 Gallery Night.The exhibit, which ran during November and December last year, featured the artwork of All Saints’
students from early childhood through grade 12, alumni, and visual arts faculty. The artwork represented a variety of styles, including photorealism, impressionism, and abstraction, and a wide range of mediums, including pencil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic, and encaustic.
When Laura Northern Venhaus, BRIT’s director of the libraries and research public engagement, decided to kick off the Emerging Artists series with an exhibit of student artwork, she reached out to All Saints’. “I knew that, not only does All Saints’ have a very strong pre-K–12 art program, they also are nimble and responsive and would be able to work with a tight time frame,” says Venhaus, whose husband works at and whose daughter attends the school.
Because upper school art educator Nola Jean Graham and middle school art teacher Julie Grant previously taught lessons with an emphasis on botanic style, they had a bevy of student submissions to choose from. For alumni submissions, Graham and fine arts department chair Kathi Tiffany reached out to past students they knew had pursued art professionally. The majority of alumni who were approached about participating submitted a piece, for a total of 12 alumni artworks in the exhibit. All Saints’ visual arts faculty members and one of the digital photography/fine arts teachers also contributed creations.
“Working on this project with All Saints’ was an absolute joy,” Venhaus says. “The response from our staff, our members, and the general public has been overwhelming. We’re looking forward to working with the students and faculty of All Saints’ again soon.”
What’s happening at your school? Share your story with us at [email protected].