Liv Benjaminson, a sophomore at Longmont High School, found a way to turn a happy memory of a family vacation — and her connection with her grandmother — into artwork.
“I was in Hawaii a couple of months ago, and I was thrifting records, and I needed somewhere to put them in my suitcase so they wouldn’t break,” Benjaminson said. “So my grandma actually had the idea of cutting up a cardboard box and using it to keep the records safe, and then when I got back, I painted the box with acrylics.”
The young student presented her artwork to both her grandmothers — Janet Benjaminson and Bonnie Carlson — in the St. Vrain Valley School District’s “Unframed Student Art Show” this week. Hundreds of families got the chance to admire more than 10,000 pieces of student artwork during the show’s Artists’ Night Open House on Thursday.
“It’s amazing that this is the whole district of St. Vrain,” Carlson said. “With 33,000 kids in the district, it’s really amazing.”
Erie High School senior Sevv Martinez created artwork for the show that was also inspired by family, he said.
“My dad, he’s an architect and an engineer, and my mom used to paint a lot,” Martinez explained. “I’ve just kind of grown up around art, so it’s just been something I thought I should probably do.”
Martinez said he’s grateful that the St. Vrain Valley School district hosts the art show.
“Especially now, in this day and age, not a lot of people appreciate art, because everything is kind of online now,” he said. “Traditional art is kind of being forgotten, so it’s really good that there’s a place for people to create traditional art and show it off.”
More than 50 local schools are participating in the art show, which runs from Tuesday through Sunday.
Teachers spend all year working on the event, said Janay Bird, fine arts coordinator for St. Vrain Valley Schools.
“We basically work from here all week, and every time we walk around, we see something new — and it’s a testament to our art teachers and what they’re passionate about, and what they’re exposing students to in the classroom around creativity and expression — it’s pretty awesome,” Bird said. “We are just really proud of our art programs, and the showcase that’s here is only a really small snapshot of what happens in the classroom every day.”
