Local galleries hosting CF student art

The Hearst Art Center, introduced in May, 1989, by James and Meryl Hearst, has always been a place for the many genres of art to be recognized within the Cedar Falls community. According to Hearst Art page, “For well over three decades, the James and Meryl Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls has provided venues for poets, visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, lecturers, writers, playwrights, students and arts aficionados of all ages. Opening in May of 1989, James and Meryl’s former residence was willed to the city in 1983 and reconstructed as a 12,000 square foot arts center with two galleries, three classrooms, a sculpture garden, two meeting rooms, office space and a performing arts facility.” In addition, the Hearst Art Center currently has class offerings for the youth, family and adults, as well as a variety of free programs with artists, authors, musicians and performers.

As of right now, the Hearst Art Center is holding its yearly Cedar Falls Student Arts Exhibition. Lisa Klenske, an arts teacher at the Cedar Falls Highschool for 16 years, said, “I’ve been going to the Cedar Falls Student Arts Exhibition and Hearst Art Center as a whole for over 15 years now. Even when my son was still growing up before I was a teacher, I would always go with him to the Hearst Students Arts Exhibition. I always loved going to the Students Art Exhibition because of the wide varieties of work the K-12 students brought in. Seeing the effort and creativity the students put in from pottery, drawing, jewelry, painting and graphic design really surprises me each year, especially for the elementary students. They always seem to top what they do each year, and I have to also give credit to the amazing art elementary teachers. What I do hope and recommend for the upcoming years is for high school students and adults who don’t have any kids to visit and see the vast amount of work the students bring in. Even if you aren’t in depth or interested that much in art, I still believe it’s important to view all the creativity our community has, and you can even benefit from it as well. If you go just once, I guarantee that you will be surprised and maybe pick up a few interests as well.”

The Hearst Student Arts Exhibition is currently being held from April 14-May 22. Visit the Hearst Art Show’s website https://www.thehearst.org/current/ for more details.

In addition to the art at the Hearst, a new class of Cedar Valley student art is now on display at the Veridian Credit Union branch at 1827 Ansborough Avenue in Waterloo. The collection is made possible by ArtShare, a partnership between the credit union and 10 Iowa high schools to publicly display approximately 140 pieces of student art each year in five Veridian branches across the state. ArtShare collections are displayed in select Veridian branches in Ankeny, Cedar Rapids, Coralville, Waterloo and Waverly. Each piece is professionally framed or enclosed for display in a local branch for one year. A virtual tour of all five collections and list of participating students is also available at veridiancu.org/artshare.