Columbia High School Gallery Features 'Astounding' Student Art

If there is one thing that Columbia High School can boast of proudly to the world, it is the school’s thriving fine arts program. From Art 1, to Fibers, to AP Studio Art, Columbia High School has a wide array of art classes for all students to take, whether to fill a graduation requirement, or to fuel a love and skill for creating art. One of the best displays of the tremendous talent that Columbia High Schools students have is the Gallery across from the Main Office on the first floor of the school. It is completely free and open to the public, starting the week of October 24. 

The gallery itself was named after former Columbia High School art teacher George Domareki. After retiring, Domareki’s son, also George Domareki, taught art at the high school, and decided to create the gallery in dedication to his father, explains current Columbia High School art teacher Larry McKim. Not only does the gallery feature student art in six to eight exhibits a year, the doors to the gallery itself are a work of art, as well. George Domareki Jr. carefully created the stained glass on the doors of the gallery when he created the gallery for his father.

Over the course of the 2011-2012 school year, the Gallery will be showing  10 exhibits from McKim's Studio Art class to Cindy Malhotra's Graphic arts class. Both McKim and Malhotra have had exhibits in the gallery before, ranging in genre from acrylic paintings, to artistic representations of self, and even an exhibit featuring art made on a budget. McKim, who sets up and runs the gallery for every exhibit, chooses the teachers whose students feature their art yearly.

"South Orange - Maplewood thrives on the arts and the arts are a vital part of the district," says Dr. Brian Osborne, Superintendent of the South Orange-Maplewood Public School. "The Domareki gallery showcases astounding student creativity and sophistication," he notes. "I hope everyone in the community stops by to check it out."

The Gallery is free and open to the public during school hours from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m., so come pay a visit and see for yourself the remarkable artistic talent of the students of Columbia High School.