Mieko Graham-Carty is a self-professed bird lover who has a fascination for Celtic mythology.
So when it came time to put a piece together for the Emerging Talent art show at the Evergreen Cultural Centre, her depiction of Morrigan, the Celtic goddess of war, seemed like a fit.
The end result for the Grade 12 student at Coquitlam's Gleneagle secondary school is a 6'6" skeleton of a bird made of plaster-covered foam and chicken wire, one of several pieces art enthusiasts can view at the ECC until March. Graham-Carty said the sculpture is based off of drawing of mechanical animals she created several years ago.
This is the 16th year the Emerging Talent art show has been held in the Tri-Cities and it features young artists from across School District 43. More than 50 works are on display from 40 entrants who will be continuing their studies at post-secondary art schools and have already been accepted at major institutions outside of Canada such as the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago. Many will also be attending Vancouver's Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Alanna Hofe is another artist who will have work featured at the Emerging Talent display. The Grade 12 photographer has two pieces depicting dolls and another with a model looking through a door that she shot in her garage.
"It was an assignment for class where I had to depict a dream self-portrait in two ways: What you didn't want to be and what you did want to be," she said. "This is what I did want to be."
Gleneagle art teacher Melanie Stokes said the work on display at the ECC gallery is impressive and seems to get better every year.
And for many students, this is the first opportunity they have to display their art in a professional setting.
"It is so neat to see what the students come up with," she said.
"They are so creative and they are so excited about it."
