Exhibit Columbus: A High School Perspective
August 25, 2017
Columbus locals have noticed multiple pieces of art being installed around architectural structures in downtown Columbus throughout the past month. These pieces are part of Exhibit Columbus: an eighteen-part art installation meant to showcase modern art to complement Columbus’s already famous, renowned architectural structures.
While the installation of these pieces has been a surprise to a multitude of people and students throughout the community, a handful of students from Columbus North High School and Columbus East High School have known about and anticipated the exhibit for months.
Six students from Columbus high schools were involved in the brainstorming, construction and installation of one specific component: Between the Threads, located on the corner of 7th and Washington Street.
These students were 2017 North graduates Tim Cox, Kyle Kingen and Jane Phillips, 2017 East graduates Mila Lipinski and Tim Rix, and current East senior Josie Royer.
The students were mentored by and worked alongside Travis Perry from Tovey-Perry Company, a local contracting business, in order to complete the physical construction of the installation.
Perry was grateful for the opportunity to lead these high school students through this experience and teach them to see art in a completely different perspective.
“I’d coached kids in rugby for years and thought it seemed like a fun thing to do,” Perry said. “I don’t think I had any idea how good it would be to work with the students. I’ve coached high school kids for years, and you build relationships in that kind of environment.
“But when you work with someone, it’s a different thing. Every one of them had their own skill set. Every student was very different, but different in the best of ways.”
Perry further elaborated on the teamwork shown between all six students and to describe the unique gifts each student brought to Between the Threads.
Perry felt that this exhibit would not only impact the students who worked on it, but hundreds of others who would interact with it, and within the next month, the 17 other exhibits to be installed.
“There’s been all ages of people there, but there’s been so many young people: taking pictures, doing Snapchat and [Instagram] inside it, because you walk inside it and it’s crazy.
“So they’re interacting with these things and then they’re sharing it with their friends all over, everywhere … I think with today’s social media the way it is, that’s what young people are gonna do with it. And that will perpetuate the conversation,” Perry said.
Atalie Antcliff, Columbus East’s new 3D Art teacher, saw similar potential within Exhibit Columbus. Antcliff is having her students make totem poles to display during the same time as Exhibit Columbus, as a project separate from the exhibit.
All of her students were instructed to choose a theme related to Columbus for their poles; some poles featured Columbus’s architecture, some featured local celebrities, and so on. Antcliff feels that this exhibit is a wonderful opportunity for students to more fully embrace art and architecture.
“I think it’s super important for students to have a time in their day where they can turn off their brain, or use it in a different way,” Antcliff said. “I wanted our students just to get something out there.”
While Exhibit Columbus will have a great impact on people of all ages throughout the community, the way it will impact Columbus’s youth will be truly remarkable. Hopefully, this exhibit will teach students the value of art and architecture and allow them to embrace their hometown in a new way.
