Students Come Together for the Arts

Maclay Upper School Students Showcase Their Art in the Come Together Art Show

Photo by Blair Bayliss/Maclay Andalusian

The Beck Family Research Center was decorated to host a Come Together Fine Arts Exhibition, known as the Come Together Art Show, in Langford Hall and the surrounding area. On Thursday, Jan. 25, films, music, art and poetry were on display for the Maclay community to observe. The Come Together Art Show had existed for years before they expanded the scope of the art submitted. This was done to showcase more of the fine arts in the upper school, making the event more inclusive and interesting. Students had the opportunity to submit their art for awards and three students, one from each category, received them.

The Elaine Cochran Memorial Award is chosen by the juror and is given to the work that shows artistic excellence and vision in a piece of work. The Marauder Inspiration Award is chosen by the juror and is given to the work that shows artistic excellence and vision in a piece of work made by a student who attended Maclay in all three School Divisions. The Purchase Award is chosen in consultation with the juror. The award goes to a student whose work is selected to be a part of Maclay’s permanent art collection. Senior Mary Clayton Soto received the Elaine Cochran Memorial Award for her work titled “Guardian Owl.”

“I was very excited [about winning] because I just started whittling this year and it was something I had never done before and I was worried my pieces wouldn’t be as good or inspirational,” Soto said. “It [my art] was about how I grew up loving owls and how I felt they protected me so my piece was a tribute to that.”

Maclay’s National Art Honor Society (NAHS) and the art department teachers worked together to put on this event.

“I think it [the event] is great,” senior NAHS president Sarah Fernandez said. “It is a great turn out, so many people came, which is so fun and exciting really just to celebrate all the talent we have in the upper school.”

Students had to submit their art to be included in the show, so without them taking the initiative to do so, there wouldn’t be any art on display.  The arts community at Maclay has been brought together with this event, thanks to the students sharing and appreciating each other’s work.

“We [the art department] are super thankful because stuff like this can’t happen without the students,” upper school art teacher Ismael Milligan said. “Sometimes I think that from the outside looking in that this is the administration, teachers or school putting this on and in many ways that is true, but the goal moving forward is that this is run by students, for students. We want this to be an event that they’re proud of. I am happy and proud of all the work they have put into it, and I am really looking forward to having the conversations after this event is over on what we can do to make this event even better.”