At the opening of a group exhibit at Las Vegas Academy, Chazz Savage works on a sketch and greets visitors perusing his ink drawings. The mostly political works take on themes of racism and police brutality, balanced by comic-book-style renderings of a dark underworld. Prints are for sale. It’s a requirement for each artist, as are exhibit postcards, writing an artist statement and hanging the show. Afterward, they de-install and patch and paint the walls.
This full gallery experience folds into the in-depth training and studio practice of the magnet school. Saying that his initial intrigue with Las Vegas Academy was the boy-girl ratio, which tilts heavily to a high female student population, Savage (formerly Sandoval) adds about the school, “I wanted to take art seriously. I knew they took it seriously. LVA made me better. My teachers have challenged me, introduced new materials and expected me to do better.”
Savage’s portfolio won him a full college scholarship to the School of Visual Arts in New York, whose alumni include noted illustrators Paul Brooks Davis and Tomer Hanuka. Other seniors are considering scholarship options, some equally prestigious and maybe expected (LVA is a Blue Ribbon School recognized by the Department of Education for academic excellence). Its visual arts program touts itself as the most awarded secondary arts program in the state. Students must audition and, if accepted, are part of the 60-70 visual arts students a year. The intense training includes painting, drawing, ceramics, graphic design, animation, art history and/or video production. Portfolios are thick come graduation.
“They make more work at this school than I did the entire time I was in grad school,” says Sierra Slentz, a 3D art teacher and artist specializing in ceramics. Among 3D works in the senior show are ceramic pieces by Liz Garcia, whose dental theme is pervasive in her art—paintings of decaying teeth, ceramic dentures, a hyper-realist sculpture of her hand, painted and holding a bloody tooth (with more teeth set on gauze in the foreground). The artist, who says she’d wanted to be a dentist since second grade, is still unsure of her career choice, but would like to continue her art practice.
Elijah Maura, who has exhibited his work at Cornerstone Gallery and done live paintings with Ruzo Logic, says he was offered scholarships to SVA and Parsons (and is leaning toward the latter). A trip to New York City with other art majors solidified his decision to pursue an art degree, but he says, “I’m very open to my path changing. I’m not set on anything.”
On this night, it’s all about the exhibit—the excitement of peers studying their work, buying prints and negotiating prices on originals. One student asks another: “Is it okay if I pay you in quarters?”
