Exhibition connects artists across generations

Shortly after the reception opened, the room was filled with students of all ages, eyes searching for the familiar colors and strokes of their masterpiece. When found among the many pieces of artwork at the Bridging Across Generations art show, shouts of “Look, there’s mine!” rang out.

So began the fifth annual exhibition of Westlake students’ artwork at Rae-Ann Suburban Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on April 24. Pieces ranging from watercolor scenes to penciled self-portraits to ceramic sculptures were judged by local artists Marge Widmar, Christine England and Mary Lou Ferbert. Rae-Ann Suburban’s residents also had a good time selecting two winners of their own, and the students voted for their favorite from a display of the residents’ artwork.

The Best of Show award went to Westlake High School senior Renata Beyer’s medically-inspired chicken sculpture. Renata also received second-place for an owl sculpture. Her top winner, titled “Second Chances,” was crafted out of real chicken bones leftover from the family’s dinner, clay, springs and glue. Renata created it as part of a WHS ceramics class project for a Cleveland Clinic art show, where the theme was medical subjects. Renata said the sculpture (her artistic interpretation of osteoporosis) took over two months to complete and admitted she needed two whole chickens to finish the piece, because “my cat ate half the project.”

The annual art show, which allows young and not-so-young generations of Westlakers to find common ground in artistic expression, is the brainchild of Rae-Ann Suburban owner John Griffiths and his wife, Mary.

“The intergenerational art show engages both our seniors and the children from the Westlake schools,” Griffiths said. “It is so exciting to see the pride that the artists have for their exhibited work.”