High schools X 5 = High Energy 18

High schools are normally supposed to be in direct competition with each other for the glory of being the best in the city. But that’s only when it comes to sports.

In the arts, however, they all work together in peace, harmony and, of course, highly energetic creativity.

The Art Gallery of St. Albert has just installed High Energy 18, the annual art show that now encompasses teen talent from all five of the city’s high schools. With a few dozen works from Bellerose, Paul Kane, Ă©cole Secondaire Ste. Marguerite d’Youville, St. Albert Catholic and Outreach high schools, it’s a strong representation of the future of the city’s cultural leaders and visionaries. It’s also the cornucopia-like youthful counterpart to the All Members Show that just opened at the Visual Arts Studio Association’s gallery in the Hemingway Centre.

Here, there’s the same “something for everyone” template, but with the added bonus that these artists have fresh perspectives and the kind of raw, fearless ambition towards art that attendees can’t help but notice.

Jenny Willson-McGrath, the exhibition curator, has seen the work over the years and has noticed a trend.

“It seems to me that it keeps getting more and more diverse. Even this year, it seems to have a larger range of mediums and styles. We’ve got everything from tinfoil to newspaper to very low tech materials to digital art, digital collage.”

She mentioned technology because that was the theme of the show. Rather, it was the challenge between the schools. Everywhere you turn, there is a dichotomy between the high tech versus the low tech. A collection of dresses (from different St. Albert High students) made out of newsprint are the unlikely complements to a slightly off-kilter yet ultramodern obelisk (created by Lance Anderson), hollowed out with a bare light bulb shining inside, reflecting the inside chamber of its chest cavity, lined with a pattern that makes me think of binary numbers translated into Morse code.

Nearby, there’s an off-centre centrepiece featuring several of the aforementioned tinfoil pieces (by Thomas Fenton), an interesting selection of helmets, masks and headgear. I’m reminded of the Venetian Renaissance fair masks coupled with mythological creatures fused with space gear. Anderson added to the display by taking pictures of some of his friends wearing the headwear. The photos line the walls behind. It makes you want to be a teen again.

Elsewhere there are some of the most interesting two-dimensional art pieces around. One, by Rachael Dykstra, shows a Marilyn Monroe figure with an octopus head, lifting up her skirt. Emily McNamara’s painting of a man and a dog, each with old-fashioned TV tube heads, is as poignant a commentary on the future of electronic interference in normal brain functioning as I’ve ever seen. It works well as an unintended companion piece to Iona Maganito’s picture of a young woman wearing glasses displaying old school test-pattern colour bars.

A series of artistic torsos, an orange watermelon-shaped dirigible lifting what looks like a classic Doozie automobile from the 1920s, and a representation of fictional TV character George Costanza in his classic boxer short pose on a chaise longue… all these, and more wonderful sights are ready to be viewed all in one place.

Teresa Wallsten, the art teacher at St. Albert Catholic High, sees a lot of creative potential in her students. The sky’s the limit, she says.

“I’m always, always amazed with their ability, their skill, their talent, the passion, the drive … the end result is always fabulous.”

She praised Willson-McGrath and the other staff members at the Art Gallery of St. Albert for their dedication to the massive yearly effort, one that serves to prove the mettle and boost the confidence of numerous young artists but also ends up feeding the gallery back in future years as those youths become established artists looking for their own exhibits.

Arlene Westen Evans, the gallery’s newly placed art rental and sales co-ordinator, was also enthusiastic about the exhibition on the main floor, and for much the same reason. The art rental gallery, on the second floor, makes a great tie-in for what’s happening at ground level. As the high school students show off their stuff below, there’s a group of well-known local artists who got their starts in high school. That group includes local Pat Wagensveld, Angela Grootelaar, Pat Trudeau, and Pam Wilman, someone who should be pretty familiar to many of the exhibiting artists of High Energy. She’s the art teacher at Ă©cole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville.

The second floor gallery, she says, deserves to get at least a little bit of the limelight.

“It’s the best kept secret. It really is!” she stated.

The best news is that future High Energy exhibits will soon have even higher energy. Last week, the province announced funding for a new Francophone high school for the city. That will bring the total, one day, to six.

“That’s brilliant!” Willson-McGrath exclaimed. “We’ll have to bring them on board.”