By Terri Spilman
The Carmel Arts Council has developed a unique opportunity for two Carmel teens to actually curate an art show from start to finish at The World’s Smallest Children’s Art Gallery through the inaugural “Emerging Curator” summer intern program.
Recent Carmel High School graduates Ariana Nunes and Leo Biette are serving as co-curators for the upcoming exhibit, “Through the Eyes of Art: A Contemporary View of the Human Identity.” The exhibit will feature student art hand-picked by the two from the Carmel High School Virtual Art Show that debuted in May.
“These two young people looked at the art, they decided what they liked about it, they picked a theme and a title for their exhibition and they are going to hang the art and label it – do everything that a curator would do in a gallery situation,” said Carmel Arts Council Board Member Donna Tutwiler, who oversees the museum and Emerging Curator program.
Nunes plans to attend Indiana University and Biette will go to Xavier University next fall, and the two were mentored by professional curator Harriet Warkel, who also is an auxiliary member of the arts council.
“I learned a lot about finding a commonality between a large selection of pieces and the work that goes into finding a theme in general rather than choosing just pieces that I like that are nice to look at it,” Nunes said.
Her interest in curating was sparked after taking an Advanced Placement Art History course taught by her favorite teacher, Carmel High School Art Department Director Jennifer Bubp.
Biette said the exhibit is an opportunity to showcase the hidden talents of his peers to the community. It’s also a step toward his dream job of becoming a curator in Washington, D.C.
“I think that opportunities like this are so rare for even college-level people who are looking to get into this, and the fact that we get to do this in high school with limited experience, it’s been amazing so far,” he said.
“These kids are fantastic. It’s been an incredible experience for all of us all the way around,” Tutwiler said.
The exhibit’s opening night is from 6 to 8 p.m. July 2 at the World’s Smallest Children’s Art Gallery, 40 W. Main St. in downtown Carmel.
The two curators will speak at 7 p.m. to introduce the artists and talk about the exhibition. There also will be refreshments and musical entertainment as part of the evening’s festivities. The show will run from July 5 until Aug. 31 every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday nights from 6 to 8 p.m.
For more information or to volunteer with the Carmel Arts Council, visit carmelartscouncil.org.
Complete List of student artists and works
1. Luna – Connie Chu
2. Emergence – Alex Mikev
3. Portrait With Hook – Rachel Chen
4. The Passion of Distress – Franci Figueroa
5. Liane – Connie Chu
6. Bird in Hair – Rachel Guan
7. Man in Cloth – Misheel Mandalsaikhan
8. Portrait – Lauren Hoover
9. Black and White Portrait – Cassandra Rennard
10. Painting herself – Anne Castro
11. Eye – Lauren Colbert
12. 3 Boys – Sarah Bruns
13. White Color Pen – Mary Kane
14. Mirror – Katie McGinnis
15. Two Hands – Shivani Bajpai
16. Soldier on Bed – Susan Friedlander
17. Portrait – Madeline Ku
18. Portrait – Vasilki Papaioannou
