Gooch gym becomes an art gallery for annual art club show

By Sky Strauss, Staff Writer

Drake Holloway announced his plans to attend State Technical College to study computer network and cybersecurity during an event with his fellow seniors Thursday morning, knowing that just up stairs, his real passion was out on display.

Decision Day wasn’t the only thing happening at Mexico High School. Gooch Gym had been turned into an art gallery where the art club was hosting its annual showcase.

The gallery, which is held every year, is open to anyone who wants to participate and includes work from both the high school and middle school. Almost every bit of wall space is covered in works of art and large displays are spread around the gymnasium.

“We like to show off,” said Holloway, who thinks the spotlight often misses the smaller groups like art club. “We like having the art show so we can show that we do have talent, we do have interest, even if we’re not shown to the world.”

For Holloway, inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. For example, one of Holloway’s prize-winning “best in show” creations, a clay sculpture of Snoopy in a green checkered plane, was inspired by a video game he was playing with his cousin.

Like many of the artists in the show, Holloway has competed in various art competitions across the state.

Linda Malott, a Bulldog educator in charge of art club, prom, student council and travel club, will find art competitions throughout the year and encourage her students to participate.

“I am very involved in getting them showing in different college-level art competitions,” said Mallot. “We enter a lot of contests and we’ve won a lot of awards.”

Jyllian Whitworth, a senior, has been competing in art competitions with Malott’s encouragement for three years now. She has won many awards for her acrylic paintings.

“I really started competing my sophomore year and this is where it has taken me,” Whitworth said.

For Whitworth, art class was her space to calm down and find herself.

“This class isn’t composed of exams and studying – it’s really exploring what you want to do,” said Whitworth. “It’s kind of like my little zen hour.”

Next year, Whitworth will be attending Drury University to study psychology with a minor in communications and advanced scientific analysis and a certificate in wrongful convictions. The hope is to one day be able to implement art into her career through art therapy.

Mallot said her students’ involvement in the art world sets the MHS art program apart from other schools.

“We do a lot of community service,” she said. “We paint faces, last summer we painted all the murals in the animal shelter, we painted the ‘smile you’re in Mexico.’”

That, combined with the numerous art classes available to students has not only allowed the program to grow, but to provide students with a more diverse portfolio.

This year’s gallery is unique as a lot of art was for sale.

“Most of my kids are raising money to go to Europe next year,” said Mallot.

Half of the money raised from art sales will also go to a memorial scholarship in honor of Jane Norman, a retired MHS art teacher who recently passed.

Zellen Duncan, a junior, was selling pixel stickers to raise money for the art club. He also had an extensive display in the show which featured multimedia pieces from his independent studio classes.

Duncan wants to become an art teacher like his father.

“I have been drawing since I was little because my dad is also an art teacher,” said Duncan. “From kindergarten to now I have just been drawing random things.”

Evie Peterson, a senior, is also planning to become an art teacher. She will attend College of the Ozarks to study art education.

“I would tell any little kid, if they’re trying to draw something and it’s not working, focus on that one thing,” said Peterson.

Peterson, who implements a lot of bright colors into her work, also had a few pieces available for sale. The decision on what to sell comes from feeling alone.

“If I don’t feel a connection to it, but I feel like other people might, they can have it because they will just get stacked up in my room somewhere,” she said.

The art show is just as much a fundraiser as it is a way to see just how far the students have come throughout the year.

“It has been a very fulfilling program – I really love it,” said Mallot.

Whether you ask the aspiring art teachers, future therapist or the information technology bound hobby artist, the opinion is unanimous: art can be for anyone.

“We have a very good community and nobody is going to dis you for having ‘bad art,’” said Holloway. “We’ll just call it abstract.”