By Linda Michael
Each month, the Foothills Art Association features the artwork of a member artist at its gallery in historic Porter Hall in La Mesa. Now, for the first time, Foothills will feature the artwork of students from the art department at Helix High Charter School.
For many years, Foothills, in accord with its mission “…to promote the advancement of fine arts in the community,” has provided an annual monetary donation to the Helix High art department. This year, Foothills decided to invite the art students of Helix High to be featured artists at the gallery. Their artwork will be on display from April 5 through May 1.
“We are a charter school that has a lottery so that kids can come from all over San Diego,” said Tina Colera, director of the Helix High art department. “We recently moved into remodeled rooms and love it! We usually participate in a district show at Parkway Plaza every year and are really looking forward to showing our work at the Foothills Gallery. Our art club will be participating as well and they have joined the task of working on the La Mesa Dale [Elementary] mural, which we hope to begin over spring break.”
The course work for the students in the Helix High art program includes the elements of design and its application to art creation, art history, and theory. Students explore multiple art media and learn to plan, propose, produce, and critique artwork from stills, models, and from their imagination. They evaluate art media and critique other artists and fellow students’ works. They build their portfolio and investigate possible art college options.
Colera has taught at Helix for 19 years and is a member of Foothills Art Association. She has expressed appreciation for the support that Foothills has offered to the Helix High program. She says that she has found collaboration in the community to be extremely rewarding for her students and she looks forward to “art adventures” with Foothills.
The Foothills Gallery, located at 4910 Memorial Drive in La Mesa, is open Tuesdays-Saturdays from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The exhibits are free and open to the public. For more information, call 619-464-7167.
— Linda Michael is editor of Footnotes, the newsletter of the Foothills Art Association.
