A glimpse of the students' artwork that will be on display during the month of April at the Foley Art Center.

FOLEY - Snook Christian Academy’s high school art students will have their work featured throughout the month of April at the Foley Art Center, and they, as well as their teacher, couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity. The art show will kick off on Thursday, April 4, at the Foley Art Center from 5 - 7 p.m., and everyone is invited to drop in for refreshments and the chance to meet the artists who will be onsite for a meet and greet and to answer questions.

“There are 28 students in the high school art program, 27 in Art 1 and one in Art 2,” said Jessica Peppers, Fine Arts teacher at Snook Christian Academy. “This is the first year to have a visual arts program in the high school, and I just moved to the area at the end of last year and began teaching the class. I’ve always loved art, and at the end of the year I always like to do an art show to showcase my students.”

Being new to the area, Peppers began searching for a venue for the show. She came across the Foley Art Center and met with Zana Price, a huge supporter of the arts in the community. After some discussion, the Foley Art Center was agreed to be the perfect place for the exhibit.

“We’re trying to encourage the arts, and we’re going to be focusing more and putting more interest into the local schools’ art in coming years,” Price said.

Each of Peppers’ 28 students will have three to five pieces of their work on display for the show, and have been in “decision-making mode” through March, said Peppers. She states that being the first class in Snook Christian Academy to put on an art show of this nature, the students have been hard at work to deliver a multitude of media to feature.

“They’re so excited to be the first class, and it helped them come up with the theme for the show,” Peppers said. “I wanted them to be part of the process so I let them decide together, and they came up with the theme of Genesis 1:1, because it was the first, when God created the world, and they’re the first high school art class in Snook. And the first thing God did was create, so they created their own creations and were able to connect them to the Bible; we’ve made some great connections through artwork.”

Among the featured works will be paintings, textiles, embroidery, weaving, photography, watercolor, spiritual word art, digital media, among more. Peppers said the only thing lacking is pottery, something she hopes to bring to the students soon. There will even be a tie dye sheet two students are working on, an artform they’re both interested in.

“I like to give the students freedom to create their own ideas,” Peppers said. “I teach them the first part of the year, art history and established medias, and then during the second half of the year I let them free, just let them create two or three projects that they want. It’s a good critical thinking activity, letting them come up with their own creations.”

Peppers stated if her students are interested in a particular project, she encourages them to communicate their ideas to her along with the items needed to make it a reality. If possible, she will get the supplies to execute the project, and if it’s not as easily obtained she will work with the students to find another idea that interests them.

“I think people should come out to the Foley Art Center during April and see what different artworks have been created,” said Peppers. “There’s something for everybody, and I think people would be interested in seeing the growth of the students. We’re hoping during Spring Break we’ll have people stop by and see what we’re working on in Snook Christian Academy and where our art program is going.”

To learn more about Snook Christian Academy, check out their website at www.snookchristian.org.

The Foley Art Center is located at 211 N. McKenzie Street. For more details, check out their website at foleyartcenter.com, give them a call at 251-943-4381, or find them on Facebook.