El Dorado High School, in partnership with the Artists in Education program, will present the student art exhibition “Let’s Collaborate” at the South Arkansas Arts Center. The exhibition will be on view in SAAC’s Lobby Gallery from April 6 through April 18, showcasing a diverse body of work created by EHS students.
A reception celebrating the students’ creativity and collaborative achievements will be held Monday, April 6, from 5:30 to 7:00pm.
The exhibition highlights artwork developed under the guidance of EHS art teacher Katie Harwell, alongside AIE instructors Maria Botti Villegas, Jorge Villegas, and Lisa Burton Tarver, as well as collaborating Yocum Elementary art educator Nicole McAdams.
“This year, Visual Art students at El Dorado High School demonstrated how collaboration allows us to achieve more,” said Harwell. “From completing our Senior Mural with Artists-in-Education, to designing collagraphs for community partners, experimenting with darkroom photography, and building imaginative sculptures inspired by elementary students’ drawings, this has been a year defined by creativity, teamwork, and discovery. We hope you enjoy our work.”
Projects featured in the exhibition include a senior mural completed as part of a four-year series, mixed-media collagraph prints, darkroom photography enhanced with watercolor and ink, and collaborative clay sculptures inspired by second-grade artists from Yocum Elementary, created in partnership with McAdams. Students also explored still life and darkroom photography using materials sourced from Richland Creek Farms, incorporating wildflowers and produce into their compositions with guidance from Tarver and Jorge Villegas. Additional works include large-scale owl sculptures developed through project-based learning, utilizing papier-mâché, painting, and collage techniques.
As AIE artists, Maria and Jorge Villegas emphasized the value of collaboration in the classroom: “We are a resource to the room teacher, providing fresh ideas and helping develop and complete programs in drawing, painting, and 3D design. This year, we were especially excited to complete the final mural in a four-year series created with EHS students. Working alongside Mrs. Harwell, Mrs. Tarver, Mrs. McAdams, and the students has shown us the richness that comes from valuing everyone’s ideas.”
The completed mural series, developed from 2022 to 2026, is inspired by the life cycle of a butterfly, symbolizing growth and transformation across each high school class: from caterpillar (freshmen), to cocoon (sophomores), to emergence (juniors), and finally, butterflies in flight (seniors). The final mural celebrates the graduating class with the message: “Now you have become freshmen in this school of life—fly high, fly smart.”
For more information about the exhibition, visit www.saac-arts.org or call 870-862-5474. The SAAC galleries, located at 110 East Fifth Street in El Dorado, are free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm.