For the past five years, the University of Arizona Museum of Art has showcased local high school students’ artwork in an exhibition titled “Our Stories: High School Artists.”
Students from Tucson and Pima County schools are selected by their art teachers to participate and have a chance to win a $1,000 UA School of Art scholarship.
Works by two students from each school are selected, and according to Tracy Brown, an art teacher at Walden Grove High School in Sahuarita, “it definitely can be hard to choose.”
This is the second time Brown, who has been a teacher for almost 16 years, submitted her students’ works for the exhibit.
“It’s been great …. It’s such a good opportunity for the kids to see their work on display at a big university,” she said. “That’s a big opportunity for them.”
Salpointe Catholic High School student artist Layla Lopez’s clay sculpture “Blown Away” was part of the 2022 “Our Stories” exhibit.
The exhibit was “just an idea floating around” back in 2018 when Willa Ahlschwede had been newly hired as an assistant curator at the museum. Her focus was on education and public programs.
The exhibit is open to district, private and charter schools, which select up to two pieces from their students for consideration, Ahlschwede said. There could be submissions from multiple teachers at the same school, which gives more students the chance to have their work recognized.
Jill Menaugh is a 3D art teacher at Ironwood Ridge High School and has been submitting to the “Our Stories” exhibition since its launch.
“It’s such a great bridge for high school students to get to see the university and get to be a part of the art community, and kind of help bridge what comes next for them,” she said.
Menaugh said it’s also a chance to see the talent coming out of area high schools.
“A lot of times, it’s way beyond expectations,” she said.
The exhibition runs through May 20 at the University of Arizona Museum of Art, 1031 N. Olive Road. Admission is $8. For tickets and more information, visit artmuseum.arizona.edu.
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