Yesterday was a long — but really fun — day at school. Last night the 7th and 8th grade students in the Visual Arts Magnet program at Richardson West Art and Technology Magnet Junior High School showed off their year-end Art Concentration Projects along with other works they’d done during the year.

An “Art Concentration Project” is a series of at least three pieces of art, done in multiple media, on a single subject.  We had to present a plan for each piece of art, then execute the project following specific guidelines — for instance, the third one, we had to follow the theme but add something we drew from a hat. I drew “circles”, so I had to come up with a piece of art that followed my theme, but included circles.  My theme was the problem of homelessness, and it took me awhile to come up with the idea of adding little round “snowflakes”, in the form of small circles, to my final piece.

My idea for the concentration project was that nobody really sees homeless people — and they don’t really see the world the way we do.  I think homeless people put on a kind of mask they show to the world that hides the fear, sadness and problems that made them homeless.

There was a lot of really great art at the showcase — some of the students at West are REALLY talented. I’m glad I got to be a part of it!