This Thursday, young artists from the East metro area will get a taste of what it’s like to be a part of a professional art exhibition, when the Emerging Young Artists – Saint Paul program holds its opening reception and award show for the young creatives that are participating.
“I’ve always wanted to have my art put in a gallery,” says Milo Wepplo, an eighth grader at Avalon School, a project-based charter school in Saint Paul. I spoke with Wepplo and several other Avalon students who will be showing their work at the exhibition.
Wepplo told me he found out about the program from Mickey Jurewicz, an advisor and teacher at his school. “She thought that I would like to do something like that,” Wepplo says. “So I ended up submitting three things and out of the three, my loon painting was chosen.”
Wepplo’s “The Loon,” is a triptych painting made of three separate canvases. In the work, the loon figure is silhouetted by the glow of the moon and the swirl of the water.
Wepplo worked quickly on the painting, completing it in four days in order to make the deadline for submission. Added to the stress was writing his first artist statement. “I had never written an artist statement before because I’ve never had my art in a gallery,” Wepplo says.
Writing an artist statement was also a tough one for Isobel Williamson, a ninth grader at Avalon. “It was quite new to me,” she says. “I had no idea about it, actually, so I just tried to summarize why I like to create art, and what I like to do within my pieces.”
Williamson’s piece in the show, “Organized Chaos,” is about an experience where her family was given a 30-day notice to vacate their duplex apartment. “I did an illustration about that,” she says. “There’s a lot of structure in it, but I also wanted to include scribbles to show how much of a stressful time it was even if it wasn’t, like, a long period of time.”
Emerging Young Artists-Saint Paul turns 50 this year, though the nonprofit that operates it has shifted during the pandemic. Originally called the Les Farrington Best 100 Juried Art Exhibition, it was formerly operated by the St. Paul Jaycees, a local chapter of the national Jaycees organization, focused on leadership through community service for young adults under 40.
Formed in 1929, the chapter focused on projects like the St. Paul Winter Carnival and Grand Ole Days, ran charity drives, and supported educational and youth programs. One of their programs was a juried art exhibition for students in Saint Paul and the surrounding community.
The volunteer-run St. Paul Jaycees closed in 2020, but its sister charitable foundation, the Saint Paul Jaycees Charitable Foundation, continues to operate, and funds the Emerging Young Artists Program.
Lisa Hiebert, a trustee with the foundation, said The Jaycees chose a number of legacy projects, among them the juried art exhibition and program for students.
“We started looking at how can we make sure that this program and this legacy lives on and grows and thrives,” Hiebert says. “We started doing research and seeking out organizations that might be a good fit with our mission, vision, and values, and might be able to take this on and grow and expand the project.”
When Hiebert first had a conversation with Dawne Brown White, the executive director of COMPAS, she knew they had hit on an excellent partnership.
“The stars aligned in so many ways that this was just a really perfect fit,” she said.
Brown White tells me that any student that lives or goes to school in the East Metro can apply. They don’t need a teacher or principal to sign up for the program— rather, they can submit their application on their own.
Four of the students Jurewicz advises at Avalon were selected this year. She says because her role at the school is mostly advising, it allows her the time to support young people in the process.
“She helped with giving me small pointers,” says another of Jurewicz’s students, 11th grader Echo Columb. For their artist statement, Columb looked for guidance on clarity. “I kind of am someone who writes something and my draft is my final draft,” they said. “So it really helps to have her look at it and tell me what I might need to add or maybe what’s a little confusing.”
Columb’s piece in the show, a large-scale nude made with charcoal and mixed media, was made by tracing her own form.
“The four pieces are just really eclectic,” Jurewicz says, “and just so representative of our kids, which I think is just amazing.”
Another 11th grader from Avalon, Clover Ward, will be showing a dress design— both three dimensionally using muslin, and in photographs. In total, eighty-two students submitted a total of 571 art pieces, which were then juried by a panel of COMPAS teaching artists. For the EYA – Saint Paul ceremony, 17 awards will be distributed at the Landmark Center.
“I think being downtown, it just gives it panache,” Brown White says. “It’s like a real-life thing. You’re in a real professional gallery.”
Eventually, Brown White says, COMPAS’s goal is to recreate the program in other parts of the state.
“Ultimately we could have a state championship, like basketball or like hockey or like football— and have a big showing of all the students in Minnesota. I mean, that’s my goal.
The gallery opening takes place Thursday, March 7 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Landmark Center. The works will be on view through April 28. (Free). More information here.
Sheila Regan
Sheila Regan is a Twin Cities-based arts journalist. She writes MinnPost’s twice-weekly Artscape column. She can be reached at sregan@minnpost.com.
