PRINCETON: Green art show open at high school gallery

By Stephanie Vaccaro, Staff Writer
   On Friday, April 29, the Green Show opened at Numina Gallery at Princeton High School. The show is focusing on all things green and is the first of its kind for the gallery.
   The exhibit’s mix of recycled art and nature-inspired art includes an art project and plants from the Horticulture Club, African masks, nature journals, sculptures, artwork made from recycled newspapers, writing from English classes, photography, painting and a video presentation.
   ”In the beginning of the year we were talking about ideas of cool things to do and nature is a pretty universal thing for all departments,” said co-curator Gaby Shypula, a junior at Princeton High. “So it’s easy to respond to.”
   They had originally hoped to have the show on Earth Day, but this year their spring break conflicted with it, said Gaby.
   ”We wanted to encourage a proactive element to the show too, not just an appreciation of nature, but something we can go out and do,” said faculty adviser Scott Cameron.
   ”I think definitely to see that things that we use every day you can make into some form of art,” said Gaby. “It doesn’t have to be something that’s perfect.”
   ”There are so many different outlets of ways to express yourself,” said Gaby. “So, I definitely think that that’s something really important to communicate to the school.”
   The French class made African masks out of recycled material. The masks had to do with French colonialism in Africa.
   Mr. Cameron had his English 4 students write about what they loved about nature and spring on green note cards.
   ”Some of them wrote prose and some of them drew pictures,” he said.
   The cards were used for the exhibit’s entrance. Put together, they read: The Green Show.
   One piece done by a professional artist used a U.S. mail bag as the canvas.
   Co-curator senior Alessia Arregui submitted a video, which she described as a layering of images shot in Terhune Orchards. Alessia also made a sculpture of old computers, televisions, phones and various other electronics. The sculpture, meant to resemble the human form, portrays man’s connection to technology. “It’s supposed to represent that electronics are taking over,” said Alessia. “We need to be comfortable with them.”
   Another was a bag made of used film that is a prototype from the TerraCycle workshop. Also on display was a picture frame made by TerraCycle that used the inside of a computer as the matting.
   ”It’s definitely good that we have TerraCycle in here so that people can see that recycled materials do make art that’s usable and practical,” said Alessia.
   The show also included photographs of dresses that had been constructed from paper. There’s a hat made out of Q-tips. The Ivy made a slideshow of nature-inspired artwork, which was projected in one of the corners of the gallery. The environmental club picked and dehydrated flowers for a display.
   ”With the gallery, our objective is not just have shows where the art from art classes is on display, but that’s traditionally what it’s been, but this year we stared taking on academic projects that have an art-based theme with the idea that every student is an artist and every student has a creative side,” said Mr. Cameron. “A lot of different departments do art-oriented activities.”
   ”I think the great thing about it is that they’re attempting to get, I think what happens with the gallery and with art in general is that people who are exposed to art most as the people who interested in art,” said Mr. Cameron. “And that’s great. I do love going to galleries, I’m an artist myself as well, but the great part for me this year has been seeing athletes, people who are in other classes, like we had an exhibit with all freshman classes who contributed a piece to the exhibit, so that just brought anyone who is anyone into the gallery who might not come down here, and I think that’s the objective with this is that it’s getting different departments, different student groups.”
   ”Other people who might come to see their friends’ art, and now they’re a part of the show,” said Mr. Cameron. “It’s connecting things, whereas I think the institution tries to separate things. Even departments themselves don’t always interact with each other at all.”
   ”For me, the beauty of education is how everything really is connected to one another,” said Mr. Cameron. “Literature has a lot in common with science and a lot in common with history. I think that’s an interesting thing about having a gallery in a school is that you can really celebrate the creativity of all disciplines.”
   The exhibit will run until May 17. For more information, go to numina.prs.k12.nj.us.