Curated to look like a museum-like exhibition, students gathered in the library’s Great Room in awe of the artworks displayed. On Friday, Jan. 31, National Art Honor Society (NAHS) hosted their annual Winter Art Show, celebrating and showcasing creativity to connect artists and art appreciators.  

To make their vision of an art show a reality, NAHS Event Coordinator NAHS Swasthiya Mahesh ‘27, took it upon herself to gather artistic volunteers who had the same vision, and began planning for the event a year prior.

“I started way back in October, so I first made the Google Forms for people to submit their artwork through,” Mahesh said. “Then I started collecting artwork. I would get a lot of artwork throughout November to January, and while that artwork was coming in I would label them by handwriting their names on black cards. It took a while, so that’s why I did it as soon as they submitted their artwork. Then, closer to the date of the art show, I got some artwork from the teachers themselves, and I got their permission [and] the students’ permission.”

Working tirelessly for weeks in preparation, the NAHS volunteers were in charge of matting, and hanging up artwork in the Great Room. This grew to be somewhat of a tedious challenge, leading some volunteers to formulate strategies to work around such tasks.

“I did a lot of things such as matting different pieces, which is putting the black frame around them, as well as transporting and setting up a lot of the tables for the 3D sculptures ,and [hanging] up a lot of the work up on the panels,” Eve Swanson ‘25 said. “A big challenge for me personally was having the time to be able to mat all the pieces, a lot of times I had to stay during my off blocks or even later after school so I could have everything ready in time for this. Another big challenge for us was trying to get all the panels in here — it took a lot of effort.”

The Winter Art Show allowed a new opportunity for artistic students to shine in the spotlight by having their art on display, thus giving the young artists recognition from the community.

“The most rewarding part of helping out was being able to aid people who don’t normally showcase their artwork, and giving them an outlet to do so,” Swanson said. “Art shows are a really good way for people to put themselves out there, and even if it wasn’t super loud, I was super happy to be a part of that opportunity for them.”

The exposure that the artists received through the Winter Art Show further allowed them to be proud of themselves and the hard work that was put into the exhibit. Togetherness and connectivity was fostered between art creators and admirers, enabling the Winter Art Show to be a success for NAHS.

“Art brings us all together, whether you’re standing there admiring somebody else’s work, or relating to what the subject is in an artwork,” Art Teacher Ms. Elizabeth Gross said. “It’s the students being able to have something of their own to show their friends or to show their family, and to be proud of. It does a lot for that student along with the people around them — it’s a ripple effect. I think it’s really good to do this, and [we should] do it more often.”