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The Student Art Exhibition will officially kick off the 35th Annual Circle Craft Christmas Market on Tuesday, November 11th and be on display through Sunday, November 16th, 2008.

This display is an exciting showcase celebrating student creativity and featuring over 120 works of young people in 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) and Argyle Secondary (North Vancouver)

"Our hope is that collaborations of this kind will inspire other students in the future." -Paul Yard, Circle Craft Co-operative

Representing a cross-section of the many styles and media that art students from across the Lower Mainland are practicing, the exhibit features paintings, drawings, mixed media works, photography, and illustration.

The Student Art Exhibition 2008 is presented by Circle Craft Co-operative and 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.

Gleneagle Secondary School in Coquitlam is proud of its exceptional visual arts program. Studio courses including Art, Drawing & Painting, Graphics, Photography, Ceramics, Animation, and Media Arts are offered to new and experienced students of all abilities.
Many Gleneagle students pursue post-secondary training and careers in the visual arts, diversifying their portfolios through our Art Careers program. Julia Suen, grade 12, plans a career as a visual artist. Julia is excited about the possibilities her Graphics class gives her because, "You can find your freedom within the boundaries of graphic art".

Special programs offered only at Gleneagle include JumpstArt 9, an exciting program option that integrates the visual arts with the grade 9 humanities curriculum. Gleneagle is also the host school for the "Headstart in Art" Emily Carr satellite program, allowing graduating grade 12 students from around the district the opportunity to take university credit courses while still attending secondary school.

Gleneagle is pleased to be able to showcase a selection of student paintings, digital designs and traditional photography work at the 35th Annual Circle Craft Christmas Market. We wish to thank both Circle Craft and Opus Framing for their on-going support of this exhibition.

Riverside Secondary School students are hounoured to once again be involved in this year's Circle Craft Student Exhibition. We have 15 grade 11 & 12 students submitting work that encompasses a wide range of subjects and media. Look for a plasticine interpretation of one of the Group of 7 paintings, several "Humanimals" done in india ink, far out fashion illustration, a medieval princess drawing and several black and white silver gelatin photographs. Last year we took a field trip to the Circle Craft show - which was a first for all of our students. Their eyes were opened to a new world of artistic possibilities and their definition of craft forever changed that evening.

Burnaby North Secondary School has a large visual arts program that offers a wide range of visual art courses from 2D to 3D. Some of the courses offered are: classical animation, classical photography, desktop publishing, media arts, ceramics and sculpture, graphics, drawing and painting, art foundations.

Burnaby North also offers first year University credits called Advanced Placement in the areas of art history, studio art 2D, studio art 3D and studio art drawing. While most students in art courses do not go on to become professional artists, many do find the creative thinking and visual literacy skills developed in this course invaluable. After all, the work place is looking for creative problem solvers and for people who can imagine new ways of doing things. Students who do apply to art schools often are admitted on their first application as a result of their portfolios, which they developed at Burnaby North.

Walnut Grove Secondary School: Art is a big part of life at Walnut Grove Secondary. We offer art courses for grades 8 through 12 in visual arts foundations as well as Ceramics courses, photography courses and drawing and painting courses.

The pieces we entered in the show come from our senior drawing and painting students. With a population of over 1900 students the one part time and 3 full time art teachers are kept busy plying their trade.
Our programs in studio art focus on a strong drawing base and aid the students in developing their creativity through both teacher directed and self directed projects. As a result although many of our students do not continue on in art as a career, but they have the skills to aid them in the job market and to increase their enjoyment of leisure art which many have pursued.

South Delta Secondary School Visual Arts Department Rocks!!
In spite of declining enrolment in the district, program cutbacks, no art fees, and an unprecedented number of class size and class composition violations; the visual arts department at South Delta Secondary School is thriving. Classes are full to the brim and bursting with energy as students pursue their artistic passions.

The faculty draws students from Grades 8-12 and offers them a broad assortment of course offerings. Bobby McDowell, now in his 3rd year of teaching, is the mixed media and sculpture expert; and Peter Scurr, with 36 years of art education under his belt, leads the media arts and graphics program whilst coordinating the school yearbook. Julie Lymburner, the Fine Arts department head, introduces all the Grade 8's to the wonders of visual art and teaches the senior drawing and painting classes at the school. Needless to say, there is never a dull moment in the SDSS art rooms.

Visitors to SDSS remark that the art classes here are comfortable, yet productive; the unfolding art pieces show both discipline and inventiveness. The school is proud of their students' creativity. In fact, each and every year, opportunities are provided for students to show their work around the school building and in various public venues. We were thrilled, therefore, to be invited back this year to exhibit works at the Circle Craft Market.

Elgin Park Secondary School: We are very pleased once again to be asked to participate in the Circle Craft Student Art Exhibition. It is an honour to be part of a display of such high quality work from schools in the Lower Mainland, and to be showcased with artists from across Canada.
Elgin Park Secondary is a mid sized school in South Surrey, one of three serving the Semiahmoo Peninsula. We have about 1200 students, three art teachers and offer a variety of courses from Gr. 8 ’Äì 12 including Photography for Grades 10 - 12 and a Pre AP (Grade 11) and AP (Grade 12) course for those students who are very serious about their art and want to continue on with a post secondary art education.

Our senior students regularly attend the National Portfolio Day held at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and at least one of them every year has received an invitation to start the next September without going through the portfolio review. Our AP program is relatively new, but our students have received high adjudication marks on their work and have gone on to art institutes across Canada.
We are proud of our creative and hardworking students and are happy to share some of their work with you.

Argyle Secondary School Our school is located on the side of a mountain in North Vancouver. The Visual Arts program includes a grade 8 short course for all grade 8s, general art courses for grades 9,10, 11 and 12 and ceramics. The Digital Media courses include digital photography, 2D and 3D animation, graphic design, Design 44 ( a course in which selected students publish a magazine for and by youth), and film, video and sound recording.
The visual art students represented in this exhibition are Andrea Pena, Nan Shen, Lin Duo, Vincent Sheu, Hayley Scott, Laura Thorne, and Dan Kwak. The photo students are Michelle Davis, Casey Schmidt, Desiree Hauswald, Rachelle Lupton, Ryan Ptolomey, Andy White and Sadie Hardman ( who died tragically from a fall in spring 2008).
We are very pleased to be participating in this showcase of top student art work at Circle Craft's 35th annual Christmas Fair.

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.

The Byng Arts Mini School at Lord Byng Secondary School is a place for youth with a passion for the arts to channel their creative energy into an intensive school program that integrates the fine arts with their academic program. Students work within a community of students who share their interests while pursuing academic and artistic excellence through curricular and extra-curricular activities in visual arts, literary arts, music and drama. We are very pleased to be part of the Circle Craft Christmas Market this year. The collection of work on display was produced by Sherry Heo, Oliver Johnson, Sally Kim, Raychyl Myara and Julia Pearce, senior students of the Honours Art program. The artwork was selected by the students themselves; in the selection we can see from the range of subject matter, techniques, and styles, each student's personal relationship to art and their unique approach to making their thoughts and ideas visual. Contact information: byngarts@vsb.bc.ca