Gallery • 3 Photos

Layla Demir

Art Fest Starts the week of April 21st. “I think once the show is up, there is a creative buzz,” Szmrecsanyi said. “There's a sort of energy in space, a sense of pride.” Szmrecsanyi said.

South’s annual Art Fest is an excellent opportunity for students to showcase and profit off of all the hard work they’ve been putting in throughout the year. For some seniors, their last chance to showcase their creative abilities is rapidly approaching, and it is now time to put the finishing touches on their designs and see them truly come to life. Rei Schoenberg ’24 is one of South’s brilliant seniors participating in the show, submitting artwork with mediums ranging from metal to ceramic and even some mixtures of both.
“I work on more ceramic pieces than I do metals, but I always try to incorporate metal accents into my pottery,” Schoenberg said.
Schoenberg views art as a lifestyle and even has her own pottery wheel at home, which she uses to make and sell her artwork. However, she too, even with the experience, still feels the pressures that come with putting her best pieces on display.
“It’s definitely a mixture of stress and excitement just because you have to get everything in by the deadline,” Schoenberg said.
Audrey Larson ’24 is another senior who is more familiar with the art and design aspects of the show, but is also determined to meet the Art Fest deadline. Larson mentioned one piece she is putting together which she is especially excited about is a copper pendant necklace.
“I didn’t actually fire it in the kiln to add color to it, instead, I put a layer of ammonia and then soy sauce to degrease the copper so the design would stick to it,” Larson said.
For art department teachers like Thomas Szmrecsanyi, who teaches ceramics and metals, the preparation for this event is equally important.
“We’re dealing with an area of study where oftentimes, the best things start to come together at the end of a process,” Szmrecsanyi said. “There’s not really a fixed timeframe for creativity.”
Szmrecsanyi believes Art Fest is a wonderful tradition each year that is always evolving as the years go on, which he can attest to since he actually participated as an art student at South prior to organizing it as a teacher.
“I never know what’s going to happen with the year ahead, but I notice that each year there are certain students who really step up and kind of enter that role of being a high performer,” Szmrecsanyi said. “And it’s a very remarkable thing to see and be a part of.”