High school senior launches exhibit
Published 9:50 pm Saturday, May 16, 2009
Usually high school seniors have enough on their plates.
Prom. College applications. Graduating.
But King’s Fork senior Alex Fulton added even more to her well crowded plate by launching her first, solo art exhibition in downtown Norfolk this week.
“It’s been a really interesting year with all the things that I have been having to do,” Fulton said. “It’s really exciting though.”
For the past four years, Fulton has been a student at the Governor’s School for the Arts. As part of her curriculum there, Fulton was required to produce an art show in her senior year. She had the option of banding together with other Governor’s School students, but Fulton knew, even as a freshman, she wanted her show to be her own.
“I said early on I wanted to have a solo exhibition,” she said. “It’s something I’ve been preparing for the past four year at Governor’s School.”
Thursday night all that work came to a head when Fulton debuted “Amphigory” at the GSA Black Box Theatre on Granby Street in Norfolk.
The exhibition is a collection of more than 20 of Fulton’s pieces. The pieces range from paint and pencil works to acrylics and even paper towels and tape. All of the works are from her junior and senior year in the Governor’s School.
Fulton added that she named the exhibit Amphigory because it is one of her favorite words, and it means a nonsensical collection of stories. She said that after looking at her collection, amphigory was the perfect description.
“Altogether, my work doesn’t really make sense in one context,” Fulton said. “But each little piece is a story or really observation about the world that I make. And then I connect them with pieces.”
Fulton’s show will continue until May 20, and the exhibition is free and open to the public.
While Fulton did say the trials of putting on an art show all by herself proved stressful, the experience was also one of her most favorite.
“I’m really excited, and it’s just got my head turning about shows I want to do in the future,” she said. “That’s the great thing about Governor’s School. It’s the only program of its kind where seniors are allowed to have their own show. I mean, I’m 18 and I’ve already had an art show. That’s amazing.”
After graduating in June from King’s Fork, Fulton will be attending Virginia Commonwealth University Arts School where she plans on majoring in graphic design.