The annual Southwest Open School student art exhibit is now being featured through the month of February at the Cortez Cultural Center.
The show, entitled Food for Thought, is being led by SWOS Art Coordinator Claudia Sanderson-Ohara.
We incorporate a lot of subjects in our classes, so that each class has a little bit of science, history, math and geography, Sanderson-Ohara said. And also Im big on health.
The different subjects are incorporated in a variety of ways. For example, students used math skills to measure their art while matting it. They studied a variety of animals and plants that also ended up being the subjects they painted and drew.
We studied regional concepts, for example, we looked up flycatchers and where theyre dominant and what they eat, she said while showing a students drawing of a flycatcher. The student learned the bird is aptly named since they eat flies.
The art currently on exhibit is extremely diverse and many different backgrounds, ages and maturity levels are represented in the show, Sanderson-Ohara said.
Some of the mediums include acrylics, crayon, colored pencil, ink, mixed media, paper mache, paper mosaics, pencil and stained glass on wood.
Subjects include animals, such as hens, chickens, ducks, roosters, pigs and cows, and varieties of fruit, including apples, bananas, pears, tomatoes, watermelon and strawberries.
One of the paintings on exhibit is an acrylic painting by Jonathan Gleydura entitled Hunger that features a haunting portrait of what looks to be a very hungry man. Another acrylic painting is entitled Floral Tea by Kayla Matthews and depicts bunches of flowers in bloom.
Dilton Padillas pencil drawing called Navajo corn grinder features a Native American hard at work grinding corn with what appears to be a Navajo rug in the background.
J. Gleydura created a humorous, polymer clay sculpture of a cartoon-like figure that stands about 7 inches tall and is called Dressed for Dinner.
SWOS art students follow a variety of guidelines, some of those rules include: Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for a while; be happy when you can manage it; and be self-disciplined, this means taking responsibility for your own education.
A reception for the exhibit is being held at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at the Cortez Cultural Center, 25 N. Market St. Refreshments will be served.
The reception will include students performing poetry readings led by SWOS Humanities instructor Sandi Valencia who teaches a class called Whats My Destiny?
Its centered around the movie Forrest Gump and the four decades featured in the film, she said. So we spend a lot of time learning about the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. But the poems dont have to be about the movie.
For more information, call the Cortez Cultural Center at 565-1151, or visit the center at 25 N. Market St., Cortez.