Over 40 works of student art were on display last Thursday evening as students, parents, and friends attended LAMusArt’s annual Art Night!
Each year, Art Night! hosts a special guest artist lecture that is followed by a student gallery reception to engage students and community members in a discussion and appreciation of the visual arts.
This year, our special guest artist was Marcelle Gravel, whose previous experience includes design work for Cirque du Soleil. Ms. Gravel spoke of her initial attraction to the visual arts and invited our students to form a part of her next project, River of Wings.
Our students will have the unique opportunity to design and embellish one of the 60 wooden, kinetic bird sculptures that will be installed along a half mile of the LA River bike path. Ms. Gravel’s inspiration stems from LA River environmental and conservation initiatives and from the majestic and iconic Blue Heron bird – one of the many inhabitants of the LA River ecosystem.
Her partnership with our students encompasses our mission to combine cultural and educational opportunities to show our students how the work they do in the classroom can benefit our communities. Our students’ collaboration with a professional artist and larger community will help bring awareness to an environmental conservation effort while helping to create an interactive community work of art.
Following Ms. Gravel’s lecture, guests were invited to enjoy light snacks and drinks while admiring the student exhibition that featured a diverse array of student self-portraits, landscapes, animal drawings, and color-theory exercises from Mr. Erick Altamirano’s and Ms. Yami Duarte’s classes.
Parents and family members of our young artists marveled at the skill and talent of artworks created by students as young as age four to 17 years of age. Ms. Yami Duarte summed up the evening succinctly with her statement that Art Night! is “a special time to be proud and celebrate the wonderful creativity of children.”