GMC News

GMC Prep School Student Art on Display at Allied Arts

On March 3, 2019, community members gathered to mark the start of an Allied Arts exhibit featuring Georgia Military College Prep School student artwork. Milledgeville Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan read a proclamation naming the month of March, Youth Art Month. The exhibit is a partnership between GMC Prep School and Allied Arts with a theme of ‘ARTiculate Your Story.’  Students in grades 6th, 7th, 8th, and 12th submitted pieces for the exhibit.

From March 3rd-15th, the Milledgeville-Baldwin community can view the art in the Marlor House on North Wayne Street. The exhibit features pieces that vary in creativity from 90. The 6th-grade students took photos of themselves in a pose that describes who they are and then created silhouette mosaics that tell their story. The 7th-graders created scratchboard designs of animals, either their pets, or animals that show characteristics of themselves. The 8th and 12th-grade students edited photos of themselves in a photo editing software to create a monochromatic self-portrait painting.

Paige Barlow, Visual Arts Director at GMC Prep School, says it’s important for the students to showcase their work in the community.

“Having the opportunity to display student artwork in a gallery setting creates professionalism and helps articulate the artist’s story,” Barlow said. “Art is a universal language that can bring us together to help us understand one another. By displaying the students’ work at Allied Arts, community members were able to see the strengths and talents of these students. They were able to see the benefits that art has for students.”

For some GMC Prep students, this was their first time having their art displayed in a public place, other than during a school art exhibit.

“I’ve never had my artwork seen by anyone other than my parents and people I go to school with,” said 7th-grader Alexis Waldroup. “It’s so cool to have people that don’t know me look at the art I’ve created and say nice things about it. Everyone’s work was amazing and it was neat to hear people looking at it and enjoying it.”
At the exhibit this month, guests will see not only a variety of artwork, but artwork of a variety of ages.

“Art isn’t one of those things that’s defined by your age and anyone can be talented at it. It just depends on how you look at it,” said 7th grade student, Jillian Rourke. “So it was cool that we had people to come in and you could be looking at a really great piece but not know it was done by a middle schooler.”

The Allied Arts Youth Art Month exhibit will be open for viewing until March 15, 2019.