Century High students create FAME Night celebrating senior art and ...

Century High School senior Madeline Watkins stood in front of her classmates, holding up a poster of a clinched fist behind red-orange flames, the words "Catching Fire" across the top.

The expression wasn't borrowed from a novel in the Hunger Games saga. Seniors in Century's Fine Arts and Media Entertainment class (FAME) chose the title for their senior art showcase tonight because it represents the desire they have to pursue their artistic passions after they graduate in June.

FAME Night, a compilation of senior projects ranging from visual arts to theater, music and media, is planned entirely by students, the final piece of the senior portfolio required of all seniors in public high schools in Oregon. These portfolios are created in a focused program or senior seminar.

Century students have a variety of seminars they can choose from, depending on their career interests: health services, business and marketing, culinary arts and hospitality, early childhood education, human resources, technology or FAME, a program that combines humanities with an artistic focus.

If you go

What: FAME Night senior art showcase ?

When: Public reception begins at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29

Where: Century High School, 2000 S.E. Century Blvd. ?

Info: The event is free and open to the public. FAME Night is produced by Century seniors in the Fine Arts and Media Entertainment senior seminar class.

Watkins, along with 60 other seniors, chose FAME because she believes art will play a role in her future career -- right now, she wants to be an art teacher or art-based therapist. She can't remember a time when she didn't love to draw. With the exception of economics, all the classes she's taking this semester are art related.

The workload for FAME hasn't been easy, according to Watkins, who helped design the FAME Night poster and also completed a series of paintings inspired by dancers in movement for her portfolio.

"With homework for some classes you know the answers are right or wrong," Watkins said. "It's not the same for art. With art, it's up to me when it's completed. When I create something, it's important that I'm inspired. I'd rather stay up the night before and be inspired than do it over a week without any inspiration."

Chaz Stobbs, 17, who specializes in 2-dimensional art, was in charge of creating banners and wooden flats for the FAME Night.

He said he has always been determined to go to art school and will begin classes at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in the fall. His dream is to make books and magazines, maybe even doing graphic design work for bands.

"I tend to stay as far away from normal as possible, not on purpose, though," Stobbs said. "I like doing what feels good, and I'm happier when I'm creating art that I can be proud of."

Kyla Mazhary-Clark didn't anticipate choosing art for her senior seminar when she first started at Century, but when she enrolled in a broadcast journalism class her freshman year, something clicked.

"Could this be my job someday?" Mazhary-Clark remembers asking herself. "I know that it's hard to get into film school, but it's what I really love. I want a job that I will enjoy going to every day."

For her portfolio piece, she created a promotional video for the Hillsboro School District showing the effects of recycling on the environment. Her film will be played to faculty and staff at the schools in the Hillsboro School District teaching them about the districts' new method of recycling.

For FAME Night, Mazhary-Clark directed a video promoting the event.

"Directing it was like herding cats," Mazhary-Clark laughed. "Everyone has their own opinions about how something should look."

But she said it was good preparation for her future. She wants to be a film director someday and will be attending California State University in Long Beach, where she hopes being close to the film industry will provide her with good connections.

FAME co-teacher Lydia Laurence, who has been teaching language arts at Century for 14 years, said FAME Night will be a chance for the community to celebrate the students success, simulating a real gallery opening.

"The students work really hard at this," Laurence said. "They need to learn how to self promote and what it takes to put on an event. They need to be leaders, and it's great to be able to watch them do this in the class and in the community. "

-- Taylor Smith

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2013/05/century_high_students_create_f.html

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