Stokes County Arts Council Presents The Annual Arts Extravaganza
500 N Main Street
- Danbury, NC 27016
- 336-593-8159
- www.stokesarts.org
The Stokes County Arts Council is pleased to announce the opening of our annual Spring Arts Extravaganza during the month of April for the local students of North Stokes, South Stokes, and West Stokes High Schools. A virtual opening will be held on Friday, April 16, 2021, at 5:30 p.m. on the Stokes Arts Facebook page (www.fb.me/StokesArtsNC). You may visit the exhibit other times at the Stokes County Arts Council, 500 N. Main Street, Danbury, North Carolina.
North Stokes High School has 52 original works of art in this exhibit by students grades ninth through twelfth. This year, Art 1 students have focused on media and basic arts skills and theory. Art 2 students explored themes and thematic units. Art 3 and Art 4 students worked toward more student-directed projects.
Mrs. Janis Henderson-Hunsucker is the art teacher at North Stokes High School. She has been teaching visual art for 19 years. She has been teaching art and photography at North Stokes High School for the last 10 years. Mrs. Henderson-Hunsucker shared that she loves watching her students grow and create their own unique personal style.
“This year has had many unique challenges and the artwork exhibited is smaller than if we had been in person 5 days a week August till now. Despite the setbacks, the students have produced amazing artwork, and I am proud of their hardwork and dedication. I invite all to come have a look. Go Vikings!”
Mrs. Henderson-Hunsucker is pleased that she had a student earn a Gold Key Award in the annual Scholastic Art Awards this year.
South Stokes High School has 37 original works of art in the show, created by students in grades ninth through twelfth. South Stokes art students “work through their imaginations and own observations.” Their work shows personal and individual expression.
Mr. Phil Jones is the art teacher at South Stokes High School. He has been teaching 28 years with 27 of those years in Stokes County. When discussing this past year, Mr. Jones shared that transitioning to a virtual or hybrid teaching model for a hands-on, product-based course was challenging. He missed watching his students create in an in-person classroom setting. “Usually, my classroom is a place where you can feel the vibration of creativity as students bounce ideas off each other.” However, Mr. Jones said he had excellent students who asked great questions and shared their work with him through virtual, online classes as well as submitting photos.
Mr. Jones is celebrating that despite the challenges of the year, his students have been very successful. One student won two Portfolio Scholastic Awards, and another of his students won the Most Awards in our Region. These students recently had their art exhibited in the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC.
West Stokes High School students have around 30 pieces of original art in the exhibit by students in grades ninth through twelfth. The work in the exhibit was made by students in Arts1- Art 4 and Portfolio.
Miss Gatlin Hiatt is the art teacher at West Stokes High School. She first worked in Advertising and Graphic Design before becoming an art educator. Miss Hiatt shared: “This is my first year teaching, which has been wild and wonderful! I graduated in May 2020 with a BFA in Art Education.”
This year, West Stokes students have been focusing on personal storytelling, as well as the personal aspects of visual culture and influences. “In the year of Covid, freedom was something I wanted students to embrace within their own creativity, since freedom was limited in many aspects of life due to the pandemic,” Miss Hiatt shared. “Motivating students to just simply take time to create, experiment, and explore, were all very important aspects within each level of art this past year. Within each of my classes, our main goal that we have repeated time and time again is, "adapt to overcome", and I think these students continue to do so.”
This exhibit will be on display April 1-April 30 in the Apple Gallery. The Stokes County Arts Council is open to the public Monday through Saturday, 9:00am-6:00pm and Sunday 1:00pm-5:00pm. For additional information about the exhibit, please contact the Stokes County Arts Council at (336) 593-8159 or visit www.stokesarts.org.
