SK students’ creativity reigns at Sidney Gallery

For more than 30 years, South Kitsap students have displayed their artwork at the Sidney Art Gallery downtown Port Orchard — and this year is no different.

“The show is up — they put up at the end of December,” said teacher Jennifer Lee-Wilken, the head of South Kitsap High School’s fine arts department.

“The gallery has been doing this for a long time,” said Lee-Wilken, adding that the gallery gives the students the main part of the display area, and all the room they need.

“They take down work that’s hanging on the walls that they could make money off of, so it’s a very nice thing they do for the students of this district,” she said.

From her students alone, Lee-Wilken said she submitted 60 pieces, mostly drawings and paintings from the classes she teaches.

“I like to choose interesting examples of different things,” she said, explaining that the show is not “juried,” so none of the work is judged, but some of it is for sale, particularly the photographs.

The art usually includes ceramics and sculptures, although this year Lee-Wilken said there were not a lot of such pieces submitted.

In May, students can also show their work at the school’s Senior Art Show.

For the gallery’s show, it is not just the high school that is invited to display artwork. All three junior highs and the Discovery Alternative School are included, as well.

Gallery volunteer Sally Schuster said that all of the work submitted is displayed, including pieces from one junior high that didn’t quite make the deadline.

The pieces will be on display until Jan. 31.

A reception was originally scheduled for and advertised on the gallery’s Web site for this Sunday, but a snafu in communication led the gallery to hold the reception last weekend.

The gallery is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., and on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.

It is closed Mondays.

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