PINEDALE – “Art is one of those things where kids can stand on the beauty of their own individuality,” said Pinedale High School art teacher Katie Facklam.

Uniqueness, passion and talent filled the walls at the Mystery Print Gallery during a reception on May 6. The exhibit, a collaboration between the school district and local artist David Klarén, showcased top student works submitted to the Wyoming High School Art Symposium in Casper on April 22-24.

Young artists entered their best works to be judged in a highly competitive field featuring thousands of submissions. Facklam took 15 Pinedale artists to Casper. They returned with numerous awards.

The student work reflected hard work, including hours spent in the studio after school, and a creative mastery using different mediums, Facklam said.

“I’m really proud of the students,” Facklam said. “They do such a great job.”

Klarén donated the space at Mystery Print to give the students an authentic gallery experience. The exhibit will be up through May 18.

A diverse exhibit

Striking black and white drawings from nature, as sharp as a National Geographic photo, hang beside abstract human portraits.

Junior Allison Gregory prefers to work in monochrome with graphite and charcoal, although she does the odd painting “here and there” and adds colored pencils for contrast.

Gregory won two blue ribbons at the art symposium. One of her works received the Wyoming Secondary Art Educators Association First Lady’s Award and will hang in the governor’s mansion.

An open mouth, neck and facial muscles flexing, fills with bright purple and yellow flowers and berries. Gregory titled the work “Atropa Belladonna,” the scientific term for a flower called the deadly nightshade, potentially lethal plant if ingested by humans.

The poisonous flowers inside an agonized mouth illustrated the desire to scream versus the power of silence, Gregory explained.

Across the gallery, a piece flashes with color, running the entire gamut of hues. Squares leap out around two cuts of human faces that appear to be torn from a page. The piece, made from acrylic and paint markers, is by junior Rylie Jean and titled “Pop.”

Jean created a work that “stood out and was eye-catching,” inspired by both comic books and the Pop Art movement promoted by artists like Andy Warhol in the 1960s, she said.

Junior Lexie Goodrich produced cultural scenes with colored pencils, part of a portfolio for AP Art. Goodrich researched traditional celebrations from across the world and brought three to life on the gallery walls.

The first, filled with earthy green tones and a brilliant yellow half-moon, depicts the ancient celebration Saturnalia. In the second piece, people gather against a blue sky and golden sand background, part of the matchmaking Gerewol Festival from North Africa, Goodrich said.

A woman in a brilliant red dress dances with a skeletal figure in the final piece titled “El Dia de los Muertos.” A smoky sky etched in graphite contrasts with vivid, pastel-colored marigolds, flowers used on alters during the Day of the Dead, Goodrich said.

Black frames surround edgy, dark scenes that look like stills from a film noir. Created by senior Alex Bitters, the charcoal pieces are skillfully layered. Bitters explained how charcoal brushes and erasers are used to capture “different shades from soft to hard, black gradients.”

In two pieces, Bitters captured water drops in the foreground, giving the impression of looking out of a window during a rainy day. Inspiration frequently comes from his imagination and he described how pieces conjured up in his mind transform during the creative process – trees become clouds, shadows morph into cats.

Junior Catie Thomson displayed three paintings, including a blue-ribbon award winner. Thomson's preferred medium is acrylic. Thick, heavy brush strokes portray a church surrounded by trees, reminiscent of Vincent Van Gogh’s famous scenes from southern France.

Thomson explained that Van Gogh inspired the work, though the artist’s personal expression is apparent. Thomson darkened the tint on the church walls and in the sky. Bare limbs stripped of Van Gogh’s flowers reach toward the church.

Thomson described the process to create color with acrylics. She begins with layers of “base colors” and then applies greens, yellows and blues to “deepen the color and give dimension” to the work.

Watercolors are the medium of choice for freshman Stephanie Mata. Local images – Fremont Lake and the Tetons – are instantly recognizable.

Mata said that outdoor landscapes are easier and more fun to paint because they don’t require the difficult task of getting human facial proportions correct, although a self-portrait with a cousin made it clear that Mata has mastered that style as well.

Watercolors require a great level of control. Mata said brush choice helps, as well as underlying the painting with a light sketch.

Aida Mata, also a freshman, works in watercolors and acrylics to create landscapes and portraits. She takes photographs of scenes for inspiration. Mata explained that watercolor posed more of a challenge than acrylics when getting the shading just right.

Red hands reach out from a jet-black background, clutching at a woman. In several works done in oil, acrylic and watercolor, senior Rita Mata delves into the pain and psychological damage wrought by emotional and physical abuse.

Mata deftly used three strong, contrasting colors to that are “almost monochromatic” to catch the eye and leave an impression. Mata’s work required careful sketching, diagrams and hand studies to get proportions correct.

In one work, Mata used a mishap with watercolors to her advantage to create a dappled veil covering a woman’s eyes.

The last piece Mata discussed was of a woman in a bright red turtleneck called “Autumn Embrace.” When asked who the person in the painting was, Mata replied that the woman came entirely from her imagination – a mysterious muse like Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” or the “Mona Lisa.”