Art exhibit showcases African-American teens

Even though Sahona Ross has only been drawing and painting for a year, the Southeast High School student is about to enter her first exhibition Friday at Wichita State University.

“She’s kind of new to all this,” Ross’ teacher Cheryl Bangle said.

But already, her pencil-sketched work looks refined.

“I didn’t know I could draw like that,” Ross said.

The exhibition is the fourth annual “Art That Touches Your Heart” show, which showcases black artists – students and professionals – in honor of Black History Month.

Janice Bourdine Thacker, a former art teacher, counselor and local artist who spearheads the event, said the purpose is to expose young artists to success.

“A lot of talent goes to waste because they (schools) aren’t aware of how students are engaged when they feel success,” she said.

Thacker stresses the importance of art in schools because of her belief that that sort of engagement can lead to success in other academic subjects.

“We’re trying to get the government to look at art as improving cognitive skills for academic process,” she said.

The event has been a success for the past three years, Thacker said. More than 60 students have gone through the program based on their teachers’ recommendations. Some previous participants have gone on to study art in college and even work in art on a freelance basis, Thacker said.

Seventeen student from various Wichita high schools will be exhibiting this year. The student art includes photography, pencil drawings and graphic design.

The exhibition is also bringing in professional artists, including Frank Frazier, out of Dallas. Thacker said this gives students a taste of what it would be like to do art professionally and to get some guidance from established artists.

Frazier’s work can be “political,” he said. He tries to “pass a torch on” to younger artists.

But he doesn’t do it lightly, he said. Instead, he stresses honesty and sincerity in art. And honesty can sometimes be hard for young artists – or their parents – to hear, he said.

“I get in a lot of trouble for that,” he said.

Ross said she can take the heat of that torch.

“I’m fine with being critiqued,” she said. “As long as I’m getting feedback on what I should work on.”

The event is being held at WSU’s Hughes Metropolitan Complex. Demetria Wilson, who helped find the on-campus space, is helping sponsor the event through Communication Upward Bound, a WSU program that helps local youth with communication skills.

She said that even though she got the space, Thacker did a lot of the work herself.

“Janice is really creative,” she said. “And her mind goes a million miles per hour.”

Other professional artists exhibiting their work include Randy Leger and Jamaal Stafford from Dallas and Dale Godbold and Lucky Easterwood from Kansas City, Kan.

This story was originally published February 5, 2015 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Art exhibit showcases African-American teens."