Jupiter High and Norton Museum of Art share a unique partnership

The Norton Museum of Art, located in West Palm Beach, Fla. is a place where hundreds of students submit their work in hopes of being accepted into galleries alongside famous artists.

Five students from each school in Palm Beach County can submit artwork to “Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern.” Jupiter High students are chosen by Art teachers Sarah Knudtson and Stephen Germana.

“Being accepted in the Norton looks fantastic on a college resume. It helps with higher scholarships,” junior Noah Mildner said.

Students submitting work this year are going to be featured alongside art by famous artist Georgia O’keeffe whose personal belongings will also be displayed.

“They’re going to not just have an exhibit of Georgia O’Keeffe, whose work has been exhibited everywhere, but they’re going to actually have her clothing and accessories and photographs of her exhibited alongside that work,” Knudtson said.

Student artwork doesn’t have to be the same style as O’Keeffe. Mildner is submitting a pair of jeans for his work.

“I chose to create a work inspired by the Campbell’s Clark young variants, that I really liked, because I think it’s goofy experimental, very vague, and you can interpret it how you want,” Mildner said.

Jupiter High has an ongoing partnership with the Norton. This partnership allows art classes at the school to take tours of the museum and learn about the many other careers available to graduates of art schools.

“Everyone there is really nice about everyone’s work. It was pretty fun being apart of the exhibit,” junior Becky Aiello said.

Students are beginning to take on a larger role at the museum with a group called the Teen Advisory Squad. The team consists of 12 high school students, according to Jupiter High student and Advisory Squad member, Alexander Bereck.

The team is also responsible for helping plan the museum’s weekly event known as “Art After Dark” for teens. The event is held every Friday from 5 to 10 p.m. and has a new theme every week.

Through the “Art After Dark” event, students can get more exposure to the public and are able to make a name for themselves.

Knudtson said Jupiter High students will find out if their art is accepted into the museum sometime in Oct.