By Tanashie Jacquecin

Delaware State University’s Art Gallery is filled with creative pieces by students, faculty and local artists. It also hosts lectures and programs in music, theater and visual art. This semester, the gallery is home to array of beautiful works of art. Amazingly, this displayed work were all made by middle school and high school students– teenagers.

…And some people can barely draw stick figures.

The history of the art gallery is a bit murky. The space has been there since 1973, a little over 40 years. The gallery was not established until 1989. Before that, it was an area filled with reference cards and other material to keep track of books.

Jennifer Gunther is the Director of the Art Center Gallery, and she has been in the art business for 20 years. Before that, she was assistant gallery director for several years. With an undergraduate degree in painting and graduate degree in art therapy, it appears that she is fully qualified for the job. She’s always been interested in art, not just education wise but also as a therapy tool and “being here in the art center gallery helps me combine all these interest,” she said.

Jennifer Gunther (Photo By Tanashie Jacquecin)

She is currently the only official staff member of the gallery but has three interns that help her.

This semester, DSU will host the Delaware Regional Scholastic Arts and Writing award. It is an annual exhibit that the gallery has been hosting for 26 years. It is a jury competition where young Delaware artist, middle school to high school students, showcase their work. There were about 1700 entries this year and it was edited down to what you see here:

Photos By Tanashie Jacquecin

There will be an award ceremony where the organization will give scholarships to the winners. It takes place February 10, 2018, in the Art Gallery.

The contest is not really theme based. Students just create whatever works of art they can and showcase it for the world to see, anything goes. “Their own personal vision, their own personal style, and think outside the box”, was what Jennifer Gunther had to say.

For example, the dresses on display. The contest has a fashion category, and these young designers are allowed to use an array of material. One of the dresses is even made out of dog fur, and the artist, Silvia Minor, was already accepted into such as Chicago Insitute of Art. All the dresses on display show that these students are on their way to being fashion designers.

Photo By Tanashie Jacquecin

It’s not just high school students, DSU students have a chance to put their arts on display. A later exhibition will be the Student Honors exhibition and it will feature the artwork of Delaware State University. Artists of DSU, you better bring your “A” game.