Zewdi Mamo and Sia Kryiakakos pose with Zewdi’s self portrait, chosen as the cover image for Arts Every Day’s 2017 Annual Student Art Show.
On Thursday, May 4th from 5-7pm Arts Every Day will host a reception for its annual student art show at the Walters Art Museum. The reception will feature poetry readings, drum performances, and musical numbers. Following Arts Every Day’s tenth anniversary celebration in March, the event reflects Arts Every Day’s decade long work of supporting arts education and arts integration in Baltimore City Public Schools.
The event is free and open to the public. RSVP for the reception at 2017aedstudentexhibit.eventbrite.com.
Each year Arts Every day selects one work of art to appear as the cover image for the exhibit. This year, we chose “Below the Stars” by artist Zewdi Mamo. Zewdi is a 9th grade student at Merganthaler Vocational Technical High School and a student of Visual Arts Teacher Sia Kyriakakos. Each year, Ms. Kyriakakos guides her students through the self-portrait process while encouraging students to explore their own life stories, dreams, and ambitions.
It is through this creative process that Zewdi began to reflect on her own personal journey immigrating from Eritrea, Africa to the United States. She found inspiration for her portrait “Below the Stars” in the imagery of painter Kehinde Wiley and in the inspiring life story of Oprah Winfrey. Once reserved and hesitant to take art class, Zewdi now paints all the time. With Ms. Kyriakakos’ guidance, she is beginning to open up about her experiences through her art.
You can see “Below the Stars” and over 150 student art pieces at Arts Every Day’s annual student art exhibit from May 2nd-May 7th at the Walters Art Museum’s Sculpture Court. The annual exhibit showcases how teachers integrate visual arts, music, dance, theater, and media across grade levels and subject matter such as Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies.
