Sophia Guan had just about finished her first-ever sculpture last year when it fell to the floor, shattering part of the work.
But instead of chucking it out and starting over, the Gleneagle secondary student collected the broken parts and fired them up in the school kiln.
Her fractured ceramic art, Hive Mind, a classical figure with honeycombs on its head, can now be seen in the Art Gallery at Evergreen along with 64 other Grade 12 works as part of Evergreen Cultural Centre's 23rd annual Emerging Talent show.
For Guan, she’s not only pleased with the way the curators presented her shattered sculpture, she’s also honoured to have her art in a public setting.
“It really special to be a part of this,” she said Monday while studying the dozens of pieces by her SD43 peers. “It’s inspiring what others are doing.”
Organized by Gleneagle secondary school teacher Robyn Croft, Emerging Talent is a juried show that runs until Feb. 16; it also includes a People’s Choice prize.
Retired SD43 art teachers Mike McElgunn, Jerry Pietrasko and Melanie Stokes were invited to select the art that would be displayed and, in total, chose 65 works from five high schools: Centennial, Gleneagle, Port Moody, Dr. Charles Best and Port Moody.
Curated by Tajliya Jamal and Katherine Dennis, Emerging Talent offers a boost for the graduating students as many are now finalizing their portfolios for post-secondary art schools such as Vancouver's Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Dr. Charles Best student Angela Shen, who has applied to attend Emily Carr, has two works in the exhibit: an acrylic portrait of her grandfather in China and a sculpture of a golden Chinese dragon titled The Forever Chase.
Shen, who immigrated to Canada with her family when she was eight years old, said she wanted to create a dragon as both of her parents were born under that Chinese zodiac sign. Positioned in the centre of the gallery, The Forever Chase represents the quest for the unattainable despite a life filled with riches and glory, she said.
Photo by Janis Cleugh/The Tri-City News
YiSu Li, 18, who came to Canada two years ago and has also applied to Emily Carr, has a pencil crayon and acrylic zine called Blue Bones that speaks about the contradictions of the Chinese government, and a mixed media art called Masks.
“There are a lot of things going on in the world and many people are not showing who they really are,” the Centennial secondary student said.
The Art Gallery at Evergreen (1205 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam) is open Wednesdays, noon to 8 p.m.; Thursdays to Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. For social media posts, use these hashtags and handles: @artgalleryevergreen, #EmergingTalent and #EmergingTalent23.
