When the statewide school shutdown wrecked the biggest night of the year for some Republic High School artists, they found another way to showcase their work. Senior Britney Spangenberg and several of her fellow students in Portfolio Showcase, replaced their expected art exhibit on One Fine Night with an exhibit at the C-Street Market on Commercial Street in Springfield.
Spangenberg’s family had an existing vendor relationship with the marketplace, and she said her father came up with the idea to replace the RHS showcase with something for the general public.
“One morning, my dad had a lightbulb moment and told me that we could always ask Amy, the market manager, if we could have there instead, as she had brought up that she loves local artists at market,” she said.
After getting permission, Spangenberg worked with several other seniors – Abby Villars, Olivia Nunley, and Tiara Pengilly, to set up an exhibit at the Saturday market. Getting that opportunity to show the art she’d worked on all year was important to Spangenberg.
“We all had worked incredibly hard this entire year and had put in so much hard work for it all to kind of go down the drain. I loved the fact that we had a virtual One Fine Night, but I felt that a physical showcase is more impactful when artworks are involved,” she said. “That day was awesome, we were able to finally see each other again, we were able to discuss our artworks with people that really wanted to see them and talk with us about them. The only downside was the wind, as some of our pieces blew over a few times, but we were able to secure them pretty well after some trial and error. So the day really exceeded my expectations.”
Villars said the social aspect of the day was a big part of what made it special.
“I really liked being on C-Street. The atmosphere was great, (and) I got to see some really cool booths and had a lot of people stop by and look at my art. And on top of that, I was able to spend some time with my friends from Art Portfolio.”
Pengilly said she enjoyed seeing the work of other artists at the market and the ranges of media they used to create their work. And she called the Commercial Street showcase a “fantastic opportunity.
“It felt so much more real, almost like a business opportunity for us, and we understood better how it might be first-hand in professionally showcasing and potentially selling artwork. It was really a blessing to have this opportunity,” Pengilly said.
Some of the students even sold their artwork – some they had created beforehand, and some, for Pengilly, sketched on the spot.
Art teacher Holly Goodwin said the Portfolio Showcase is the culmination of her students’ creative career in high school, and she was proud and impressed that they were motivated to make it happen.
“They all interacted with the public, (and) explained their work and their individual inspiration to all those who approached their booths. This might be a new tradition because the director of the outdoor venue was incredibly impressed and invited us back,” Goodwin said. “Future students will now benefit from the hard work of these artistic and hard-working seniors. They have truly inspired me.”
