On Thursday, April 15, Sugar Hill’s City Hall was set to become a space dedicated to local students’ art as the Lanier High School Art Show opened to the public.
Works by ninth through 12th grade students will be on display on the main floor of City Hall, while Advanced Placement art students’ pieces will be displayed in the newly opened Sugar Hill Art Gallery that’s inside the Broadstone apartment complex across from City Hall.
Nicole Klein, staff liaison to the Sugar Hill Arts Commission, said this is the most diverse show the city hosts.
“A lot of the AP kids are going on to study art, so you’re seeing an emerging artist,” Klein said. “They’re developing their artistic voice, which is really cool. There’s a lot of creativity involved.”
Lanier High School began partnering with the city of Sugar Hill to display students’ work in 2019, but last year’s show was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Tiffany Cole, one of two art teachers at Lanier High School alongside Kristina Jaunais, said COVID-19 has affected Lanier’s arts classes.
“With COVID and having kids digital and kids face to face, it was a challenge, because we try to teach the same lesson with both digital and in-person,” Cole said. “The kids have really done a good job considering all the obstacles, and they’re producing good art, which is our main goal. Art, through all of this, I think has helped these students.”
Cole said she’s excited about the wide variety of mediums and techniques that will be on display in the show, which is expected to feature a couple hundred pieces.
“We really do have a wide variety,” she said, “from pencil, charcoal, pen, clay works, weaving, embroidery, book making, paper making, oil on canvas.”
The show also provides an opportunity to see the student artists’ growth over the past school year as pieces on display are chosen from a year’s worth of projects.
“It’s nice to see the growth of the students while they’re in high school, it’s really exciting,” Cole said. “It can be inspiring for the younger students and it’s also a proud moment for the AP students.”
The show will run through Tuesday, May 11. City Hall is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The art gallery’s hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.
