Lilly Meyer, a freshman at Liberty High School, is one of many Iowa City students whose work was featured in Hancher’s Youth Art Show. This year’s show consists of 555 artworks from 27 schools in the Iowa City Community School District, created by students in grades K-12. It will be displayed in Hancher Auditorium’s lobby until April 8.

Lilly has been creating art since she was in third grade. Her interest is digital art, but she also draws and does sculpture. Her digital art piece titled, “Rebirth, Control, Rest” was featured in the show. 

“For me, it’s just fun,” Lilly said. “I’m a wheelchair user, and art is something I can do that there’s no restrictions with my disability like a lot of other activities.”

Her piece consisted of three digital trading cards, as she described them, utilizing royalty-free photos online. For her first collage, “Rebirth,” she took a picture of an animal skull in her classroom and then added photos of flowers. The final collage featured pink, yellow, orange, and red flowers growing out of a grey animal skull. 

The second collage, “Control,” featured the sun and moon set against a background of clouds. Surrounding the sun and moon were hand silhouettes and dog silhouettes in the bottom right of the collage. 

“I named that one ‘Control,’ like the hands are controlling something was the idea with it,” Lilly said.

The third collage, “Rest,” also featured animals. As the name suggested, a dark-haired girl was asleep on a bed surrounded by cats and a dog also asleep. Lilly had chosen cats and dogs specifically because she liked those animals. 

Hancher held a reception for the artists and their families on March 13.

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“It’s affirming that someone liked something I made, [then] put it into an art show,” Lilly said. “Out of all of the kids that are in this school, mine out of 15-ish others was picked.”

Hancher’s Patron Services Manager Paris Young said that was one of their favorite things about the art show. Young has been in the position for nine years, and assisted with the installation.

“The kids get so excited, and their parents are so proud, and they get to come into this building that might seem really fancy or prestigious and they get to see their artwork up on the walls,” Young said. “I think that can have a really strong impact on kids to continue with the arts and arts education throughout their lives.”

Their second favorite thing about the show was the impact it had on the community. Before and after shows, guests would walk around the lobby and have an opportunity to view all the artworks.

“It’s just so fun to see everyone kind of come together around a single thing, before and after a show, and talk about the different pieces and be like, ‘Hey, did you see this one?’ or ‘I [really like] this one,’ or ‘I know this kid’s parents,’” Young said. “[It] really gives a sense of community.”

Lilly’s piece was selected by Megan Dehner, one of two art teachers at Liberty High School. The second art teacher, April Kelly, also serves as a co-coordinator for the Youth Art Show alongside Iowa City West High School teacher Christian Aanestad. Kelly had been the co-coordinator for approximately six years.

“It’s so fun to see kids’ work all the way from kindergarten through seniors in high school displayed in the same space, because you get to see their journey along their art career,” Kelly said. “It’s a great way for the community to be able to experience the art curriculum and what we’re doing with students in our art rooms.”

She hoped viewers would take away an appreciation for the works and the students’ creativity. She also hoped they would recognize the importance of the K-12 education system in the Iowa City district.

“We have a massive amount of truly, truly talented students in our district that make amazing things and will go out into our world and just continue to do amazing things,” Kelly said. “There’s a lot that happens in the art room besides just putting paint on paper or sculpting something with clay – we’re doing a lot of problem solving, a lot of 21st century thinking skills that employers are looking for later out in the ‘real world.’ And I think this is just the time that everybody can kind of see those skills come to life.”