This Saturday: BEALART Year End Show!

About: Bealart is a critical mass of Visual Art instructors and students at HB Beal Secondary School that enables extraordinary life-world experiences! At Bealart, we believe that skills, technique and style should be in service of well-formed thinking and we challenge our students to develop, research and present their own ideas. Our program teaches students to consider the consequences of their creativity; to be responsible to the environment and those around them for the artifacts they create.

Bealart provides critical, contemporary art making experiences, culminating in a portfolio of finished and experimental works that will distinguish our students from others and help them to succeed in post-secondary environments. We endeavour to direct students toward self-motivated, concept-driven artworks which showcase the skills and techniques learned using our unique facilities. Students are encouraged to be accountable for their work, the processes of its creation, as well as its meaning, through critique, self-reflective practice and peer to peer interactions. Bealart works closely with the community to showcase the talents of the students and foster positive relationships outside of the classroom while promoting the visual arts and a sense of responsibility to that community.

Bealart’s Annual Year End Show – This exhibition is a Bealart tradition and has existed for over 40 years.

Pre-Covid: At the end of each school year (often falling on Father’s Day Weekend) we run a 3 day Show and Sale. From Saturday at 12noon to Monday at 9pm. Our Bealart community – staff and students work together to set up, welcome the community and operate the exhibition. All of our studio/classroom’s are deconstructed and reconstructed, creating a total of 10 gallery spaces brimming with artwork. Walls are erected, plinths, walls and shelves are painted and the work is installed.

Prior to covid our show and sale would draw line ups from the community – a huge public event, facilitated by our staff and students with sales at the end of three days approaching $30 000. Our students receive 70% of the sale and 30% goes back into the Bealart program to continue to support students. (Monies used will pay for YES materials/supplies/promotion and are used to provide additional support for exhibition opportunities, and or supplement costs for field trips.)

Last year amidst all of the changes in the world – thank you Covid, we were able to continue this tradition and launch an online exhibition. This year we will be successful in further extending our online exhibition to include sales. (Unfortunately work cannot be shipped, but it can be picked up on site after sales close on Tuesday, June 22nd. Sales pick up will take place on Wednesday 23, Thursday 24, and Friday 25 from 10am -6pm at H.B. Beal located in London, Ontario)

This exhibition plays a crucial role in our curriculum as it nurtures our students in their understanding of professional practice, roles and responsibilities of the artist in an exhibition context including community/public relations. Students are responsible for pricing and curating their work(supported by research and discussion with their studio instructors) Grade 9,10,11’s curate in collaboration with teachers and specialist leaders. Specialists curate their own work and collaborate with their peers and instructors to ensure quality and connectivity within each gallery space.

Find out more: bealart.com

Lilyana Doyle