Student Art Exhibition at Circle Craft

The Student Art Exhibition will officially kick off the 36th Annual Circle Craft Christmas Market on Wednesday, November 11th and be on display through Sunday, November 15th, 2009.

This display is an exciting showcase celebrating student creativity and featuring over 110 works of youth from Grades 9 – 12. Participating schools include Gleneagle Secondary (Coquitlam), Riverside Secondary (Port Coquitlam), Burnaby North Secondary (Burnaby), McNair Secondary (Richmond), Walnut Grove Secondary (Langley), Elgin Park Secondary (Surrey), South Delta Secondary (Delta), Lord Byng (Vancouver), Argyle Secondary (North Vancouver) and West Vancouver Secondary (West Vancouver).

The show offers a snapshot of the many styles and media art students are practicing, and reflects the quality and diversity of visual arts programs in the Lower Mainland.

The objective of the Student Art Show is to promote and encourage student participation and excellence in a broad spectrum of visual arts and to provide an opportunity for talented young artists to publicly exhibit their work.

The Student Art Exhibition 2008 is presented by Circle Craft Co-operative and generously sponsored by Opus Framing & Art Supplies. Circle Craft Co-operative gratefully acknowledges the hard work and dedication of all teachers and students involved, with special thanks to Mike McElgunn, Fine Arts Department Head at Gleneagle Secondary School.

Below is a little bit of information about each participating school. Please click the image above to see an excellent selection of work displayed at this year's Circle Craft.

Argyle Secondary: Argyle Secondary school in North Vancouver is thrilled to be once again participating in the Circle Craft Student Exhibition. We will be exhibiting acrylic paintings on canvas, collagraph prints, digital photos a water colour painting and a large poster paint design.
The 15 students involved are in grades 9 through 12. Half of the work is from the Visual Arts department and the photos were created by Digital Media photo students. This year at Argyle we are implementing a Digital Media Academy with students attending every other day from across the School District. The Academy is a hands-on program that gives the students exposure to digital media and entertainment industry professionals as well as professionals from post secondary institutes. The Academy focuses on the design process and is project based. These students will be working on projects centered on game design, animation, film, special effects, web design, print publishing, and photography. We look forward to the exciting work these students will produce this year.

Burnaby North Secondary School At Burnaby North Secondary School, we offer students a wide variety of Visual Art courses. Animation, media, traditional and digital photography, sculpture, ceramics, drawing and painting, and graphics are some of the courses students can choose from. In addition to these courses, we offer an Advanced Placement program where students learn at a first year University level and are able to gain post secondary credits. These AP courses include, Art History, 2D and 3D studio art, drawing and photography.

The visual art teachers in our department are passionate about art education and we strive for excellence in our teaching and program delivery. Many students continue to study and pursue careers in the arts after graduation.

Elgin Park Secondary Elgin Park Secondary is situated in beautiful South Surrey. Our school has just over 1100 students from Gr. 8-12. In the Fine Arts Dept. we offer a variety of Visual Arts courses including a Pre AP (Advanced Placement) and AP program, Photography, Music, Drama and Film and TV production.
The Gr. 8 students are provided an art experience in a program called Life Skills 8. They rotate around 4 electives that are 5 weeks each. The intent is to give all the Gr. 8’s a chance to try the electives that they will be able to choose from for Gr. 9. Hopefully some of them who may not have previously considered taking an art class will now do so.
The senior classes are enthusiastic students who, for the most part have been taking art since Gr. 8 or 9 and are continuing to follow their artistic passions. Some decide to take it for the first time in Gr. 11. We encourage all students to try it before making a judgement about whether they are “artistic” or not.
Pre AP and AP is a small but growing part of our art program. Our students have, for the last 2 years achieved 5/5’s. We are very proud of them, and all of our art students and their accomplishments.

Gleneagle Secondary Upon entering Gleneagle Secondary, visitors often remark on the quality student artwork they see displayed throughout the school. A strong visual arts program helps to define our school and we are proud of the opportunities it affords our students.

Gleneagle offers a wide variety of studio courses and hosts the “Headstart in Art” Emily Carr satellite program giving grade 12 students the opportunity to take university credit courses in their graduation year. Many Gleneagle students pursue post-secondary training and careers in the visual arts, diversifying their portfolios through our Art Careers program.

Kady Chong is planning to earn a degree in Fashion Design at Kwantlen University. Of her art experiences, Kady says, “If you work hard you can create amazing pieces and accomplish anything!” The acrylic painting Kady will have on display at the Christmas Market features a dancing man and is about capturing movement and emotion.

Dabin Lee has enjoyed the opportunities Art Careers has given her to develop her personal style and strengths. Dabin advises others to, “Take lots of different art courses in school to experience a wide variety of mediums.” Dabin’s acrylic painting is based on a child’s dream and features exaggeration and bold use of colour.

Gleneagle is pleased to showcase a selection of student paintings, digital designs and photography at the 36th Annual Circle Craft Christmas Market. We wish to thank both Circle Craft and Opus Framing for their on-going support of this important exhibition of student work.

Matthew McNair Secondary School Matthew McNair Secondary School is proud to be part of Circle Craft’s 35th annual Christmas Fair. This year we are highlighting the current Grade 12 Visual Arts students: Jennifer Neibel, Jessica Oostergo, Brittney Wandler, Pierre Lai, Denise Wong, Irene Tong, Brandon Lu, and Jackie Prior. The artwork ranges from digital photography and drawing. These students will be completing the Advanced Placement (AP) exam in the Visual Arts, which is a College/University recognized course fulfilled in Grade 12. We are pleased to be represented in the Student Art Exhibition.

Riverside Secondary Riverside Secondary students are hounoured to once again be involved in this year's Circle Craft Student Exhibition. Fifteen of Riverside's top grade 12 art students will be submitting work this year. The submissions range from acrylic painting to pencil crayon and conte drawings, through mixed media pieces depicting the forest along with analogue photographs created in our darkroom. We are already planning our school wide field trip to see this year's Christmas Market which is many of our student's first exposure to crafts of such high caliber. To have the opportunity to exhibit work in such a high profile venue is amazing for these emerging artists. Thank you Circle Craft for showcasing high school artwork and thank you Opus for matting and presenting the work so professionally.

South Delta Secondary The entire visual art community at South Delta Secondary School is thrilled to be back at the Circle Craft Market once again this year. The art education staff at SDSS is always looking for ways to create authentic and meaningful art experiences for their students who spend so much of their time out in “the burbs”. Participation in this urban show, subject to the gazes and opinions of others, simply adds yet another dimension to students’ overall art experiences.

This year South Delta students are pursuing their artistic passions in classes full to the brim and bursting with energy. Teachers Julie Lymburner. Peter Scurr, and Bobby McDowell are at the helm, introducing hundreds of students to an array of visual art courses. During their five years of high school in Tsawwassen. some students may specialize in traditional art forms such as drawing, painting, and sculpture, while others will opt to enter the world of graphic design, photography, and media arts. There is something for everyone at each and every grade level at SDSS.

We wish to extend our sincere gratitude to both the Circle Craft Co-operative and Opus Framing & Art Supplies for once again providing the next generation of artists with this wonderful opportunity.

West Vancouver Secondary: The artists in West Vancouver Secondary's visual arts program are a large group of talented, diverse and unique students. The program offers artists the opportunity to personally express themselves and develop their art making skills.

Artists are encouraged to explore a wide range of techniques and mediums. Breaking away from traditional techniques of art making is always supported. This allows the artists the freedom to find interesting and new directions in creating personal expression.

The art chosen for the Circle Craft Student Exhibition displays not only the individual artists' skills, but also a variety of image making and creative ideas. These students all have strong technical skills and they are constantly challenged to expand their skills to create new ways of thinking about, and displaying their visual expression.

Lord Byng Secondary The Byng Arts Mini School at Lord Byng Secondary, a community of young artists and their mentors, is an important part of the West Point Grey arts community. It is a place where youth with a passion for the arts can channel their creative energy into an intensive school program that integrates the fine arts with their academic program. 



The students of the Senior Visual Art Department produced the collection of work on display. It is a snapshot of their talent and unique vision of the world. Their work calls our attention to the next wave of artists entering the Vancouver arts community. The work is fresh and honest. This show will be the first of many moments where they will be able to celebrate their courage to see the world differently and put their vision out into the public realm.