Art show displays diverse talent

The “Black History Month Art Show” in VCU’s Plaza Lounge features drawings and paintings from various middle school, high school and VCU students. The diversity throughout the show is amazing.

The collages from Binford Model Middle School students are quite impressive. “Muslim Girl” by Margaret Cabos uses different shades of magazine paper to create a stunning image of a girl’s face covered by a shawl. The way in which the pieces come together is wonderful. The shawl especially is so well done that she captures the tiny movements of it. Jessica Wells did a collage of an African-American man titled “What Do You See When You Look At Me?” The position that the man is in and the expression on his face are interesting. He is leaning down and looking up with a hurt but determined look in his eye. The detail of tiny eyes blended into her collage fits the tone of her piece.

Other pieces from Binford students are just as spectacular. A charcoal drawing by Margaret Calos called “Rick and Ashley” is of a man smiling with a dog licking his face. It is so well done that it is hard to believe that she is a middle school student. “Lady Rage” by Cassaudua Wycke is a painting of an African-American girl with blood-shot eyes crying. The clippings scattered about the painting range from pictures of Tupac to words such as “envied” and “gangsta.”

A painting that is simple and beautiful is “Vases of Roses” by Shannon Corcovan. The background varies from shades of black to white. The center is a vase of intricately painted roses.

One of the most eye-catching and precise pieces is a distorted drawing of a smiling girl. Jessica Smith of Richmond Community High School created this untitled piece. The lines of the drawing blend extremely well to create such an interesting image.

The only photographs in the show are by Kimberly Mason of Monacon High School. They show an adorable four or five-year-old girl getting dressed up. She looks as if she is about to go to church in her white dress and black shoes. Mason’s best picture of the three is of the girl standing with one leg crossed over the other. The picture focuses in on the girls’ shoes and legs. The pose and the angle are perfect in order to get a certain amount of attitude.

Appropriately, there are two distinctly different paintings of Martin Luther King Jr. “The Movement” by Carita Marrow, of James River High School, is a dramatic painting of King giving his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. It is even more dramatic and intense because the painting is mainly black aside from King’s face and hands. A simpler painting of King is by Virginia Randolph Community High School student Josh Ponce. “MLK Jr.” is of King’s face looking slightly down solemnly. Both pieces evoke entirely different emotions, but are equally affective.

“African Woman” is an amazing painting by Tiana Williams of Virginia Randolph Community High School. The painting is a large profile of a woman wearing an elaborate headdress and jewelry. Williams did a great job on the woman’s expression, which is content but intense at the same time.

Two pieces in the show are from VCU student Edward Robinson Jr. They were fascinating collages concerning different aspects of creation and Gods (“Genealogy”) and the Gospel of Mark (“Story With No Words”).

The “Black History Month Art Show” is a hallway worth of amazing pieces by mostly middle school and high school students that will remain through the end of the month.