The Lawrence County CTC is proud to announce that our Commercial Arts program recently partnered with the HOPE Center for Arts and Technology in Sharon, PA for "Monster Mash" a collaborative exhibition with local elementary students.

HOPE CAT collected drawings from elementary artists of monsters they dreamed up. Then a call to artists went out to over 50 professional artists to recreate the child's monsters in their own style. Knowing the professional quality that comes out of our Commercial Art shop the center invited 12 of our upper-level CA students to take on the design challenge. After several brainstorming sessions and many thumbnail sketches later the students put their digital design skills learned at LCCTC to work creating their own versions of the child's monsters. Displayed at the center's "Loft Gallery" both versions of the monsters were on display.

Design is a process and it sometimes takes many iterations and revisions to get it right. “At first I had a lot of trouble with the blue background against the Monster; it turned out a lot darker than I originally visualized,” states Katie Tillia (Senior from Ellwood). “I tried a watercolor pencil for the background, which took a lot of work to get just right, I had to find the right shade of blue to emphasize the green monster against the background. In the end, I really liked the effect, and I hope the elementary student did, too!”

Tommilynn Genareo was quite excited to attend the show. “I had so much fun doing this project! I not only got to use my imagination, but I got to see the kids’ reactions to their reimagined monsters!”

One color and shape that most professional artists love seeing are red dots. In a gallery, when one sees a red dot on a work’s title it means that piece has been sold. We are thrilled that two of our participating students sold their works on opening night. Leo Drespling and Leanna Miller (both Juniors from Laurel) got their first taste of financial success in an art exhibition and learned a lot in the process. "Knowing how successful our students become, I suspect this patron got a great deal on some early works by two very promising young artists," said Mr. DeRosa, our Commercial Arts Instructor.

“I’m so excited! This was the first work I’ve sold!” exclaimed Miller. “It’s so exciting seeing that red dot that means that someone liked my work enough to buy it and display it!”

As you can see, this year’s Monster Mash was a real “graveyard smash!” The exhibition runs until November 17th and can be viewed M-F 9-5 pm. The gallery is located at 115 Anson Way, Sharon, PA 16146.