sourced from grimmandparker.com

Our school is the embodiment of a museum. Student artwork is displayed upon the walls with vivacious and tender care from the school, like a proud parent. The media stems from canvases to oil paintings, to charcoal sketches, and a variety of other mediums. Along with the diversification of mixed media, there is an abundance of genres. Body image is represented among many of the paintings, how the artists sees themselves, and there is even a horror section along the hallway leading to the dining hall.  

It’s kind of breathtaking, to be consumed within the culture and talent of the Carver students when you enter the school. All grade levels who specialize in the art prime, regardless of age, have their art represented. However, a question arises: do people feel overwhelmed by the high expectation of Carver Center? The school prides itself on bringing a community of artists together but what do the artists themselves think when they see the art? Is it along the lines of “is my work even good enough to be up there?” or “how can I develop my skills to get to a point where my art is displayed?”   

“I find it really encouraging,” one freshman stated upon being asked, “I like seeing others succeed and it makes me feel like I should put more effort into my art” while another freshmen responded with “while I’m excited to paint, the high and pretentious standards kind of scare me”. It’s clear that opinions differ and as the year goes on, for the freshmen especially, teachers and students alike will be able to observe the growth in skill and confidence for the artists.  

However, upon discussion with freshmen Jaiden Jennings, we wondered why other primes are not as thoroughly represented. While it’s understandable that it’s more difficult to hang poetry from the literary arts prime, or display food from the culinary prime, there isn’t as much representation of other primes VISUALLY as there is of the art prime. Visual arts holds the largest population of students in a prime throughout Carver and has existed for twenty-three years. Jaiden had asked “are other primes being overlooked?” and the answer is complicated. Events are held for all the primes to allow the students to flex their talent. The literary arts students get their coffee houses, the design and production prime gets to collaborate with all the other primes, the culinary kids have their Carver Café, and some of the primes get to attend field trips that take them out of state. In the end, the primes are all equal and we are able to combine our talents and learn to work with other skill groups. A possible solution to the slight feeling of neglect from non-visual primes would be to use some of the extra space in the school to display the physical remnants and products of the amazing Carver Community. All of it.