By: Mindy Iman

From February 14th to May 9th, the University of Arizona Museum of Art, at 1031 N Olive Rd, Tucson, AZ 85719, hosts an art display featuring young artists from high schools around Tucson. For over a decade, Ironwood has contributed over 20 students’ artworks for display at the museum. This year, Abby Knapp, a Junior, has the honor of displaying her work at the museum.

According to the University of Arizona Museum of Art website, they do this to celebrate the unique work of young high school artists. Each year, the museum opens admission to art teachers from different high schools to select one or two students for their work to be displayed at the museum. At the end of the event, the museum holds a reception for the artists to take their pieces home, providing food and drink for everyone. According to our 3D art teacher here at Ironwood, Mrs. Menaugh, she knows that “In the past they’ve provided a scholarship for about 5 students, that if they chose to come to UofA and be an art major, they would get a little bit of a tuition scholarship from the art show,” but this year they are not providing that. She states that it’s “probably…losing some money this year with other economic factors,” because there is “a new president at the university.” Mrs. Menaugh added that she doesn’t “know too much about how the funding (works)” but says that “they’re looking into reinstating (the scholarships and funds) after this year.” Mrs. Menaugh has also made some changes. She said, “I actually usually choose seniors if there’s anybody that’s interested in going to UofA and selecting art as a major,” but adds, “I don’t have any this year that are doing that,” so she picked her students by their artwork this year. Originally she selected two students’ artworks, since “that’s the limit” teachers are given, but because one of them was unable to finish their piece in time, only Knapp’s work made it onto the display.

Upon interviewing Knapp, the lovely artist whose work is displayed at the museum, she explained many of the elements and feelings put into the piece. She said that some of her inspiration came from The Last of Us, and added, “I like making slightly disturbing art,” saying, “I thought it would be cool.” According to her, she didn’t have a specific meaning in mind for the piece. At first, she explained that to her, the simple coil vase was “really boring” and asked herself, “What can I add to make it more interesting?” She took this as an opportunity to experiment, “I haven’t made any body parts before, I’ve never sculpted that before. So I was just like, ‘What if I put them on a vase?’” And like many other artists, including myself, Knapp shares the same feeling about large projects being exciting, at first, but burning out, and feeling unhappy with a piece if it’s not made quickly. Knapp mentions during the interview that the same thing happened with the piece she has displayed at the museum, stating, “I wasn’t extremely happy with it.” including the glaze, saying, “glazes are glazes” and can turn into “whatever” when making a piece. A very relatable statement for anyone who’s worked with glaze. Then she later adds that the body of the vase was a little “too bulbous” for what she intended, and “got really fat.” Despite this, she goes on to say, “I feel really happy with the body parts. They make me happy.” She also unintentionally added tears to the eyes using UV resin, which gave her the idea to make saliva, something she expressed made her happy. When asked if there was anything she wished people would feel about the piece, she gladly replied, “I’d be happy if it disturbed them!” She says that she’s “happy about having it displayed,” and misses it, since she hasn’t seen it in a couple of months. Overall, the experience for her was an experimental but fun project to make, using unfamiliar materials, like UV resin, something she wished to use, and sculpting unfamiliar shapes and elements like the body parts.

The student artwork display will have ended already upon this story’s release, but the University of Arizona Museum of Art is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm with free admission, and is closed on Sundays, Mondays, and university holidays for people interested in appreciating artwork there.