AUSTIN, Texas –Eighteen art works from McCallum High School students will be on display through Oct. 23 at The University of Texas at Austin as a result of an ongoing Adopt-A-School partnership between the College of Fine Arts and the local high school.The exhibition will be displayed on the second floor of the art building located at the corner of 23rd Street and Jacinto. The purpose of the Adopt-A-School program is to provide a forum for faculty at UT Austin to share their expertise with teachers and management staff at McCallum, in order to help the school to achieve its goal of academic excellence.
Within McCallum is a Fine Arts Academy, which encourages and develops students with interests and talents in the fine arts. Speakers from the UT College of Fine Arts, both faculty and staff, have shared their expertise with students and faculty at McCallum on various topics, including music, art, theatre, computers and career development.
Last spring, Professor Christopher Adejumo, from the visual-arts studies program in the Department of Art and Art History at the University, conducted a workshop in printmaking at the high school. The workshop lasted for two weeks, and the art medium used was woodcut.
“We are excited to see the efforts of Professor Adejumo and the McCallum faculty culminate in this exhibition. We look forward to continued collaboration with McCallum,” said Dr. Charles Roeckle, acting dean of the college.
Students, whose works are included in the exhibition, will have the opportunity to visit the various discipline areas within the Department of Art and Art History, and to interact with faculty. Another goal of the program is to enhance the students’ self-esteem, and to help kindle their aspirations for higher education.
“In order for students who are inclined to express themselves through the fine arts to be successful, they need collaborative support of their educational institutions. The teamwork between McCallum and UT offers an excellent example of this kind of collaboration. Committing yourself to artistic expression is a courageous act; this relationship is more than institutional, it is a collaboration of the spirit,” said Shelly Pittman, principal at McCallum High School.
