For the eighth consecutive year, da Vinci Arts Middle School will be showcasing both local and budding artists in a winter art fair. The fair will feature an assortment of art for sale, including paintings, jewelry, stoneware, ceramics, sculptures, photographs and metal works. There will also be live music, hands-on activities and food available.
COURTESY OF Da Vinci Arts muddle school
Hipster Mona Lisa: Local artist Hadley Hutton’s piece PDX Mona will be auctioned off at this weekend’s art fair.
Da Vinci was founded about 17 years ago by parents and is now a middle school for 460 students in grades 6–8 who focus their learning on the arts.
The school features an array of arts programs, including darkroom photography, dance, theater, textiles, film and painting. Students from the district apply to the school and are accepted through a lottery system that doesn’t factor in individual creativity.
Da Vinci “[belongs] to the community,” said Connie Cheifetz, the chief organizer of the fair. “This city needs to know what’s going on for kids, what can happen for kids, and that this is Portland’s school.”
Organizers say that the community is becoming more aware of the school and its events, as the art fair attendance has grown every year.
“The fact that it still exists, is thriving artistically and academically, and gets so much support from its community is exciting to be a part of,” said Buff Neretin, chair of Arts Fair 2012.
The art fair showcases about 70 artists, 40 of which are students. This year, about one-third of the artists are being showcased for the first time. Artists submit an image of their work in the spring, a panel of judges decides who will display in the fair over the summer and the lineup is finalized once school is back in session.
The fair is hosted to help fund the school. The title “starving artist” didn’t just spring up out of nowhere: Art supplies are expensive.
Seventy percent of money from this event goes to the work’s artist, with the remaining 30 percent going to the school to help buy communal supplies. Cheifetz thinks that a fair is more efficient than an auction because it “gives the community an opportunity to get involved.”
The fair gives the community an opportunity to speak with local artists, both up-and-coming and established. There have also been many additions to the fair along the lines of do-it-yourself art, including handbags, jewelry, crafts, etc.
Students who paint or draw and put up their work for all the public to see are particularly brave, as there’s no guarantee that the audience will understand, relate to or “get” their piece.
Cheifetz’s favorite part of the fair is “getting to see middle school kids get to make something they’re proud of…then be empowered by someone wanting to buy it,” she said.
Students sometimes even buy each other pieces.
“These aren’t pity purchases,” Cheifetz said. “These are genuine desires to own these pieces.”
One of the reasons the fair works well is “there’s a good relationship between the administration and the school,” Neretin said.
Arts Fair 2012
2508 NE Everett St.
Saturday, Dec. 1, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 2, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Free and open to the public
There’s also huge commitment by the artists.
“It takes a lot of thought and elbow grease to get ready for a show of this magnitude, and all seem to treat this opportunity with great respect,” Neretia said.
It’s a convenient and cost-efficient way to shop around for unique gifts, with the holiday season right around the corner, and admission is free.
It’s also a great way to immerse oneself in the culture that is the Portland art scene. In fact, local artist Hadley Hutton will be raffling tickets for an opportunity to win PDX Mona, an interpretation of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa with a nose ring, painted nails, hipster glasses, dyed hair, and a purse with a bird on it.
This isn’t the average middle school art show. These are students with genuine talent and drive who want nothing more than to show off their hard work for the public.