BHS art students’ work on exhibit at Fine Arts Center; junior high art show to begin May 20
By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
The artwork of Breckenridge High School’s art students is on display in an exhibit in the east gallery at the Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, 207 N. Breckenridge Ave. Several of the students and their teachers were on hand Thursday night for a reception.
Art teacher Kim Walker talks to BHS students Allie Valdez and Ruthie Valdez at the BHS art show opening on Thursday. Click here to see more photos from the event. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Kim Walker and Natalie Heitz have been teaching a variety of artistic techniques this year and let the students choose which of their pieces to place in the exhibit, which will be on display through May 19 (updated date).
The artwork ranges from tiny clay sculptures to life-size body images that the students created first by tracing each other’s outlines on butcher paper and then decorating their own images like they are or how they would like to be seen, Walker said. The students used paint, markers, watercolors, crayons and other art supplies.
Other pieces feature the students’ talents in painting landscapes, drawing caricatures, creating collages, making masks from papier mache, using trash to create art, and more.
Walker said that she gives the students examples of types of art but doesn’t dictate how they should create, citing a poem about a little boy who is taught by his teacher that he has to color all flowers red and all the grass green. “I never want to have them do something that I tell them, ‘You have to do it this way.’ I don’t want that,” she said. “I want to see their viewpoint and their perspective and the way that they see and the colors they see that should go there, the images that they see.”
Mylie Patterson critiques some of the BHS art on display at the Breckenridge Fine Arts Center. Critiquing others’ art is part of the students’ education, teacher Natalie Heitz explained. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Several of the art projects featured self-portraits of the students, along with images of things that are important to them.
Heitz said her goal with the art students has been to help them build a strong foundation, the elements of art and composition. For example, they started with simple still-lifes in pencil and later in monochromatic paints, leading up to large landscapes, the pièce de résistance, she said.
One of the projects focused on creating masks from papier mache. “I think it’s kind of fun for them, because a mask is something tangible. You can literally put it on,” Heitz said. “It’s kind of this neat little novelty. And they made it completely themselves. It was messy, it was terrible. There was glue everywhere for weeks.”
During the reception Thursday evening, Heitz’s students were filling out forms, critiquing the art in the show. “Something that we focused on is the ability to judge other artworks, not necessarily by whether or not we think they’re realistic or accurate, but whether or not they successfully convey the emotions we think the artist may have been trying to convey. How are we interpreting this? What were the intentions of the artist and what was maybe not intentional, but gets communicated anyway?” she explained. “I think it’s really important when you are trying to create art, to be able to critique it and assess it, pick it apart a little bit. I think it makes you a better artist.”
Next week, artwork by Breckenridge Junior High School students will join the BHS students’ work. The BJHS will host a reception at the BFAC from 6 to 7 on Tuesday, May 20.
Additionally, in the BFAC’s main gallery, the artwork of Iwona Jankowski is exhibit through June 7.
The BFAC is located at 207 N. Breckenridge Ave. and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.
Click here to see the Breckenridge Texan’s photo gallery from the art exhibit opening.
Andrew White and Derek Trejo, Breckenridge High School juniors, stand alongside their full-size body portraits at the Breckenridge Fine Arts Center on Thursday night. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Breckenridge High School students painted large landscapes after spending weeks building a strong foundation, learning things such as the elements of art and composition. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Cutline, top photo: Breckenridge High School Principal Paul Artstrong takes a look at some of the student artwork on display at the Breckenridge Fine Arts Center. The exhibit will be open through May 19 (updated date). (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Editor’s Note: This article was updated at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 21, 2025, to reflect a change in the ending date for the BHS art exhibit. The exhibit was originally going to be on display through May 23, but it was taken down earlier for the Breckenridge Junior High School exhibit.
