NUACS display art at Kiesling

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM--The 6th annual Student Art Show which features the works of New Ulm area K-12 schools continues today with works from New Ulm Area Catholic Schools set for a 15-day run at Council for the Arts in New Ulm's Kiesling House Garden Gallery.

The student art exhibit will be available for viewing from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, 1-4 p.m. Sundays or by appointment at the gallery, 220 N. Minnesota Street.

Over the 40-plus pieces being displayed, about a quarter of those are three-dimensional art--sculptures and pottery.

"There's a little bit from the 8th grade, but mostly it's the work of seniors," Bryon Ubl, NUACS' art instructor, said. "It's only juniors and seniors who really get into sculpting and pottery-making."

Ubl said he considered several factors in picking pieces for the Kiesling House show.

"When I'm selecting these pieces for the show, obviously, the first thing I'm looking for is quality of the artwork and a little bit of work ethic out of the students. Maybe not every work is a master piece, but [I consider] the effort that goes into making it and creating it. If it's worthy and they put forth that kind of an effort, that also needs to be recognized," Ubl said.

Ubl is a one-person art department, teaching art to students from the fifth grade to 12th grade. Because there isn't a fifth-grade class taught during the first semester, the show selections represent sixth grade to 12th grade.

Each class curriculum is structured to give the students a sense of direction in learning. For high school students, there's a foundation art course, mainly for freshmen, which serves as a prerequisite for the drawing and pottery classes, Ubl said.

"Everything has got a theme or a direction that I give. With the drawing class, I'll either give them objects to draw [or] I will talk about fundamentals and that is the direction that we will go in light and shadow and shade, things of that nature," Ubl explained.

"All these assignments that I give definitely have got a direction to go. That way the kids get off on the right foot as far as knowing what to do, and the concepts I want them to learn."