'Monumental-Scale' Portraits Unveiled At New Trier High

From the New Trier Township High School District 203:

Visitors to New Trier High School's Winnetka Campus this month cannot miss the latest collaborative project from New Trier art students -- two monumental-scale portraits of contemporary American artists Carrie Mae Weems and Theaster Gates on display in the main concourse.

With this project, the New Trier Art Department hopes to draw attention to artists whose work amplifies and complicates the Black experience, and also reminds viewers that the Black experience is infinitely multi-faceted.

Both portraits are made of 4"x 4" squares created by students enrolled in a variety of New Trier art classes: Drawing and Painting, Glass Art, Ceramics, Photography, Graphics and Design, Art Essentials and Art Explorations. This is the second time the New Trier Art Department has assigned this project.

This year, one portrait depicts Weems (born 1953), a self-described image maker who is best known for her photography and installations that combine images, audio and text. Weems has exhibited internationally in major art institutions and was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship in 2013. Her projects explore themes of family dynamics, gender roles, and race. Weems asserts that her art is about much more than being Black.

The other portrait depicts Theaster Gates (born 1973), an internationally renowned Chicago native who is best known as a social-practice artist, meaning his art blurs the boundary between art and everyday life. Many of his projects use art as a catalyst to develop and change neighborhoods, using installation, performance, architecture and ceramics to address topics related to economic and racial inequity. Gates is also viewed as a champion of architectural preservation in Chicago. He restored and completely re-envisioned the Stony Island State Savings Bank that was abandoned in the 1920s and destined to be demolished, and through his Rebuild Foundation, he "seeks to foster culture and development in underinvested neighborhoods."

In 2018, New Trier art students created portraits of Kara Walker and Kerry James Marshall. Kara Walker may be best known for her large-scale, cut-paper installations that combine surreal imagery and historical references to the violence and brutality of the American slave trade. Kerry James Marshall is a Chicago resident whose paintings refer to art history and provide an antidote for the absence of Black people in that historical canon, and his installations and prints often refer to the Civil Rights Movement.

This project is one of many ways both campuses are honoring Black history through classroom discussions, announcements, and extracurricular activities. Since one of the functions of art is to generate questions, some of the questions the Art Department hopes may arise from this project include "Who becomes monumental in our culture?" "Who is underrepresented in our community?" "Who writes our country's history?" and "Whose stories are missing?"

This press release was produced by the New Trier Township High School District 203. The views expressed here are the author's own.