Beginning on March 26th the Bertolon Gallery will be taking on a new show to kick off the start of the spring and T3. The whole Pingree community is encouraged to submit artwork, including alumni, students, parents, faculty, teachers, and anyone else belonging to the community. The theme of this show will be nostalgia, defined as “a powerful emotion that can trigger emotions or memories through sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch.” 

The reason this idea was chosen for a Pingree art show is that “nostalgia is the ability to connect on a deeper level and learn about each other.” Community-wide participation will not only allow us to see a wide variety of experiences but also allow us to bridge the gap between generations as nostalgia has many different meanings for different people.

The two co-leaders of this show are Mr. Pickett and Ms. Miller. According to Mr. Pickett, their vision was to create a show that was “broad and relatively open to all” and throughout the process of getting this theme approved were challenged to think about nostalgia from different perspectives. Mr. Pickett was reminded through the process that nostalgia is not necessarily always a positive emotion and that the art show needed to be open and accepting of many different interpretations of the prompt. 

Student excitement around this exhibit also seems to be high as students feel it has allowed them to be creative and express themselves more freely. Charlotte Lee has been working on some plates in her ceramics class and has dedicated extra time to creating a plate that reminds her of good memories. “Growing up some of the best memories I had were from the times I spent with family and friends getting breakfast at a dinner, so I created a plate that reflected these memories,” said Charlotte.  This was a common sentiment, as many other students were also channeling childhood memories as a creative outlet. 

Mr. Pickett has many hopes for this show. Among those is the desire to receive different mediums of art and gain more community support. “We don’t often turn up for visual arts as often and I wanted to make it a highlighted event to create a greater appreciation for the visual arts,” said Mr. Pickett  

So, along with all of the commotion of a new trimester, registering for next year’s classes, and starting up a new season of sports, Mr. Pickett, Ms. Miller,  and the rest of the arts department hope you can find some time to join in celebrating some of the amazing art being produced by the Pingree community.