Molly Keshin
Reporter
@mollykCourant
Melted clocks and faces covered in apples line the NCHS main entrance. Taxis driving on water and people walking up the sides of buildings aren’t exactly what people imagine when they think of art. But this is the style of art known as surrealism. The NCHS surrealism gallery, “The Art of the Dream,” which features the creative artwork of students across a spectrum of media, opens Wednesday, November 19.
Every Monday, the art gallery committee meets to discuss themes, how the galleries are set up, and how the galleries will appeal to the student body as an audience. When the committee agreed on surrealism as the next theme, senior Corinne Vietorisz was excited. “I consider myself a surrealist painter because I try to make my artwork very surreal and twisted, but not in a dark way,” Corinne said.
When creating a piece of artwork, most artists know exactly what is going on the canvas before they have their supplies collected. However, Corinne isn’t like most artists. “When I start a piece of artwork I don’t really know where I’m going,” Corinne said. “It just kind of ends up being whatever random things are on my mind. I like to push my imagination and see where it takes me.”
As the student head of the surrealism gallery, junior Jessica Dantas is a leading force in finalizing decisions and believes that the galleries’ success depends on pleasing the projected audience. “We want to keep in mind that we have to make the gallery something that people like to see,” Jessica said.
Having been part of previous art shows, Jessica knows that there are certain obstacles in putting a gallery together. “The most challenging part of organizing a gallery is not leaving anything out,” Jessica said. “If we have paintings that do not match with any other pieces, finding a place for them is hard because they are really unique.”
Visual arts teacher and surrealism art gallery advisor Jennifer Sinski expects the artwork to be particularly unique because of the theme of altered reality and the universality of surrealism. “This particular art show is special because it reaches all people,” Ms. Sinksi said. “We all dream and live in this realistic world, but we think of things that may not make sense.”
Many in the art world feel that surrealism is not necessarily a definable movement. However, the art style is known for its peculiarity and unrealistic nature. “Surrealism is a combination of the subconscious mind, dreams, and reality in an altered state,” Ms. Sinski said. “It’s in the subconscious state where things may be put together where they don’t make sense, weird objects juxtaposed with one another, and a lot of it is dreams and memories.”
Jessica believes that the concept of surrealism is often misunderstood. “It’s not unicorns or something that would never happen, it’s stuff that does exist but don’t mesh together, like happiness and sadness,” Jessica said.
However, Jessica understands that surrealism is a relatively new style of art, and she credits an historic event for its foundation. “At the end of the Cold War, life was bad for so many people and surrealism was a way to escape from the world,” Jessica said. “The only way they could escape was thinking of something impossible, but at the same time there’s a way that could happen, and that’s surrealism.”
Many students may have seen the poster advertising the gallery posted around the halls, with scenes of a boat floating next to a hovering waterfall. The committee asked Corinne to create it, and she thinks that her work embodies the idea of surrealism. “I was just brainstorming a bunch of ideas and there’s a lot of elements in my artwork that I always use, like floating chunks of earth or falling waterfalls,” Corinne said. “I had this one drawing that already included all of that and the committee ended up really liking the drawing, so we decided to use it for the poster.”
Art galleries at NCHS have traditionally been an outlet for creative students as well as a way for peers and family to appreciate the hard work of artists. “It’s very important for students to know how to put an art show together because a lot of students don’t know how to take care of artwork or present it in a professional way,” Ms. Sinski said. “The galleries teach the students to get a feel for that kind of profession.”
