PEQUOT LAKES — Next week’s Festival of the Arts in Pequot Lakes will showcase the works of art not just by high school students, but younger artists in the district and artists throughout the community.
“It’s just a great opportunity to see all the artwork and creativity that Pequot Lakes has,” senior Joselyn Rinio said. “There is a lot of cool stuff that people can make, and it’s just interesting to look at everyone’s skill level. Sometimes, it’s crazy to think, ‘Oh, a 13-year-old drew that.’”
I like how you can express yourself in different ways. There are so many different forms of art you can try. You don't have to stay in the same thing. You can always try new things, and I think that gives you a lot of ways to show who you are and express yourself.
Rinio will be one of many Pequot Lakes High School students showing off her works of art at the event — mostly paintings and drawings that have earned her accolades in recent competitions, including a recent painting depicting a leopard in a side profile.
“I have like this weird thing with eyes. I love eyes, and I'm really good at drawing and painting them,” she said. “So I try to focus my paintings around that.”
She is also one of several young artists for whom this is not their first time showing works at the festival. Junior Anaka Schroeder has shown a number of pieces in the past and is eager to show more of what she has done at the March 30 festival.
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“I like how you can express yourself in different ways,” Schroeder said. “There are so many different forms of art you can try. You don't have to stay in the same thing. You can always try new things, and I think that gives you a lot of ways to show who you are and express yourself.”
Schroeder’s artwork is largely three-dimensional and often features discarded or no-longer-useful objects, like broken dishes.
“I really like to take things that aren't being used anymore and try to create them into art,” she said. “I try to reuse things that would otherwise just be thrown away.”
Some student artists will show their art for the first time, but still others have been lifelong artists and will use the opportunity to show how they have progressed artistically over the years.
“I've been doing art since I was a kid,” junior Emma Schott said. “My dad was an architect, and he did art when he was a kid … I enjoyed doing it, and then I just kept getting the Christmas gifts that were art supplies because I was the one cousin that liked art.”
Likewise, senior Landon Reier has always been an artistic child, and often gets his inspiration from the world around him.
“I've always had that creative side to me, ever since I was a kid,” Reier said. “I was always just making stuff or playing with things and trying to put them together. As I got older, I just kept doing that more and more.
"I take a lot of inspiration from nature, so I'll just be out walking around and I'll see something that just inspires me and I'll get inspired to create things," he said. "The ideas kind of just come to me.”
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Reier will showcase several pieces, including drawings he has done in his college drawing class and some “relatively large” sculptures.
It’s just a great opportunity to see all the artwork and creativity that Pequot Lakes has. There is a lot of cool stuff that people can make, and it’s just interesting to look at everyone’s skill level. Sometimes, it’s crazy to think, ‘Oh, a 13-year-old drew that.’
Schott will display a number of watercolor paintings and pencil drawings, including one on which she said she spent 10 hours shading the background. She is also excited to see some of her classmates display a different kind of artistic talent.
“I'm in theater as well, and we are having some of our kids do four different scenes from our show — it's just something we haven't done," Schott said. “I love the Festival of the Arts. It's just really fun. Everyone just comes and they just kind of look at your artwork and they are always like, 'That looks really good.’ … It just makes people feel good.”
The Festival of the Arts will take place from 5-8 p.m. Thursday, March 30, at Pequot Lakes High School.
“There are definitely a lot of really talented people at this school,” Reier said. “It's just mind-blowing — as an artist — to see what other people can come up with. It kind of inspires you sometimes.”
Dan Determan, sports writer/staff writer, may be reached at 218-855-5879 or dan.determan@pineandlakes.com . Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Dan .
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