High School Visual Arts Nominations

Dear Visual Art Instructors,

The Des Lee Fine Arts Collaborative is pleased to announce that they are once again hosting a High School Fine Arts Festival! Students will have the opportunity to create new pieces of artwork under the instruction of Dr. Jennifer Fisher, Associate Teaching Professor and Art Education Coordinator at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The festival will be held on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. It will culminate with a gallery display of the students’ artwork. The Collaborative would love to host your outstanding students as part of the festival!

When planning for the event please note:

  • Instruction will begin at 9:00am, the same time that rehearsals for the music concerts begin.
  • Art students may arrive at the Touhill with the music students.
  • Students will receive a break for lunch and dinner, both of which they will be responsible for purchasing. Students will be escorted by their school’s faculty or staff member to UMSL’s Millennium Student Center where food can be purchased.
  • Students should arrive in clothes that they can create in. However, they may wish to bring a change of clothes for the evening gallery opening.
  • The gallery will be open for the public to view at 6pm. Students are asked to stand near their artwork to discuss it with patrons of the festival.
  • The music concerts will begin at 6:30pm. Art students will have designated seats and are expected to stay for the entire concert.
  • Art instructors are highly encouraged and welcome to attend the entire festival to help their students and collaboratively engage with one another. However, if your school has other instructors on campus for the music rehearsals, accommodations can be made for supervision of your students.

Students will be selected to participate based on your recommendations:

When recommending your students, please consider the following:

  • Students should be high ability visual artists. This can be defined as students whose abilities to create, discuss, critique, or conceptualize visual art occur in a way that is significantly above the norm for their age.
  • Students should be comfortable working with mixed media and/or collaborative art projects.
  • Recommend as many students as you feel would benefit and will grow from the experience. Prioritize your recommendations by listing your highest ability students first on the form.
  • Not all students will be selected to participate. Selections will be based on number of schools participating and spaces allotted for the program.

Register to participate below by FRIDAY, November 18, 2022.

Questions? Contact Dr. Jennifer Fisher, fisherjc@umsl.edu, or Dr. Michael Smith, smithmv@umsl.edu.