Belleville West students’ true art creativity was on display for the entire student body to see in the library for the Art Fair.

Between January 22 and February 4, this art fair held the wonders of Belleville’s student body artwork, from paintings to photographs, with over 50 submissions, drawing in students, staff, and even the public. None of this, however, would have been possible without the staff here aiding our art students.

“We invited every student, from the introduction to graphic art, to our AP students,” Belleville West art teacher Cari Casper said. “So we invited every student, and the only work we turned down was if the piece was unstable, making sure it was created during high school, and pieces that weren’t school appropriate.” 

Casper also explained the process of getting the pieces in the library.

“It wasn’t difficult because the librarians asked us to do it,” Casper said. “We also had a bit of a time constraint since we wanted to make sure it was open for the 8th graders that were here for freshman orientation”. 

Thanks to the art teachers, we were able to have this setup, however, that wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for our student artists.

“We took a picture of myself for the self-portrait part, then we taped it to a separate piece of paper, and we took a darker color and shaded in every part that was dark,” freshman art student Myra Phillips said. “Like shadows, outlines, then we used that as a guideline to put everything else on it.”

Thanks to Phillips and the rest of the artists at Belleville west we were able to put this all together. Holding it though wouldn’t have been possible without the Library staff.

“I think we set it up over the course of two hours, and it was the art classes that came down and set it up,” Library Director Kati Richardson said. “We had to clean up all the tops of course shelves since we had a lot of plants up there as well as our signage.” “Some of the pieces were really tall so they had to get a ladder to set some of those up.”

Richardson furthered why the library was chosen for the art fair.

“We thought we had the space for it and I’ve wanted to showcase student artwork for a long time,” Richardson said. “I think it’s a good community space, we have a lot of people in and out of the library.”

Casper and Richardson had shown us what the staff planning had gone into showcasing the artwork for the art-fair, while Phillips had given us the artist’s perspective of what it was like to make a self-portrait. While this was the first art fair it certainly won’t be the last with plans for one next year. “I think it would be great if everyone got down there to see it because the work we do is silent, it’s not like being able to sign up for a show like Harambee,” Casper said.