Palmer High hosts annual IB Art Show

Leilami Barber has had a love of art for much of her life.

“I started taking it seriously early in elementary school when I wanted to use art to tell stories,” Barber said. “I think this year I finally used it to tell my story.”

Barber is one of nearly three-dozen students in Palmer High School’s International Baccalaureate Art program, and had a variety of her work on display during Palmer High’s annual IB Art Show Friday night.

“The whole idea is taking a peak inside my mind,” Barber, a PHS senior, said after pointing out one of her favorite pieces.

It’s a bright collage on a blue background, with a variety of items representing her interests ranging from markers to dinosaurs to flowers to My Little Pony characters.

“What inspires me and my world,” Barber said.

Barber said she has enjoyed diving into collage, but also likes mixed media and children’s books, and creating art with acrylics and colored pencils.

Palmer art teacher Anna Folsom said there are 32 IB art students this year, the largest group she’s seen in the last four years and a jump of about 10 from last year.

Folsom said Palmer High has enjoyed a resurgence of interest in the schools IB programs across the board. This year, Folsom has seen students draw inspiration from their other IB courses, and have put that toward their work in IB art. Folsom said pieces on display Friday were inspired from classic literature including “Animal Farm” and “1984”.

“References are tied to other IB classes, which is really cool,” Folsom said.

Folsom said, once again, a variety of art mediums are represented at the show. The annual exhibit represents about 40 percent of their score for the program.

The IB is a two-year academic program that offers students the opportunity to obtain an international/national diploma in addition to their Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District high school diploma.

Past IB students have used their diplomas to earn college credit, qualify for scholarships, gain a competitive edge in competitive college edge by learning skills that correspond to higher success rates not only in college, but the work force.

Megan Rogers, a Palmer senior, is in her second year with the IB art program. Rogers said she loves both charcoal drawing and oil painting. The centerpiece of her display at the show was her first oil painting, with bold colors and a western motif. She said she worked on it last year and it took her about three months to complete. Her latest oil work, also on display, gave her the chance to work with gold leaf for the first time.

The variety of art displayed on Friday included clothing. Palmer senior Cora Klink featured her prom dress in the show.

“I’ve always altered my own clothes,” she said. “I really wanted clothes that fit me well, so I was like, why don’t I just sew it.”

Klink said she took sewing lessons for three days about five years ago. Everything else is self-taught.

“I didn’t use a pattern or anything,” she said. “I just made it.”

Contact Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.