Courtesy The Hyde
On a panel of three jurors looking at several hundred works of art, there are bound to be a few disagreements. But the jury for The Hyde Collection’s 27th annual High School Juried Show jury members agreed this year’s artwork is especially high quality.
“I was blown away by the talent of these kids,” said juror Takeyce Walter, a painter and art educator. “I was expecting a lot of mediocre work, but I was actually surprised that there was a lot of work that I said, ‘Wow, I would purchase that and hang it in my house.’
The annual High School Juried Show is a showcase of local high school students’ creativity and passion for art. A panel of judges that included Walter; Doug Gruse, director of marketing at SUNY Adirondack; and Emma Huneck, exhibitions director at Saratoga Arts; selected 100 works out of nearly 700 submissions from students in eighteen schools in Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Hamilton, and Essex counties.
The annual show will be exhibited from May 12 to June 10 in The Hyde Collection’s Feibes & Schmitt and Rotunda Galleries.
Admission to the opening event is $12 for the general public; $10 for seniors; free for students with ID, veterans, active military personnel and their families, and children ages 12 and younger. Each student with artwork in the show receives free admission and a limited number of guest passes for the opening reception. Space is limited for the awards ceremony and is first-come, first-served.
“We look forward to the High School Juried Show each year to see the immense talent of local students and to honor the efforts of the wonderful teachers who guide them,” said Anne Saile, interim director of The Hyde Collection.
This year’s submissions made whittling the field down particularly difficult, the judges said. “I knew it was going to be impressive,” Huneck said, “and the quality of work was even higher than I expected.”
“I hope the students understand what a great opportunity it is for them to have their work hanging in an institution as prestigious as The Hyde,” Gruse said. “They should be really proud and really savor that moment.”
“Every piece had multiple opportunities to be viewed and judged, so there were no rash decisions,” Gruse said. “Even students who maybe didn’t make it into the show should be really proud because there was such great level of quality of work that I didn’t feel like any of the submissions were not worthy.”
“Just because your work doesn’t get selected doesn’t mean it isn’t of high quality and that can be a really hard pill to swallow, even for experienced artists,” Huneck said.
Students should instead focus on the experience. “We are proud to offer this opportunity to high school students. It’s a great learning experience to create a work of art, prepare it for submission, and go through the juried show application process,” Hutchinson said.
“It’s just a fantastic validation, to encourage them to continue, to keep working,” Walter said. “If at this young age, they’re able to get their work in a nationally recognized museum, they definitely have something and should really look at it.”