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Art Around Campus

Highlighting the artwork around campus expands educational opportunities for students and enhances the cultural environment of our community. Learn more about our campus through its works of art!

‘The Winning Spirit’ by Sandi Clark (represented by Southwest Gallery in Dallas),

Bronze Sculpture, 2010. Located by the running track at Jones Family Stadium.

Dedicated in memory of Keri Scholtz Hall.

About the Artist:

The artist Sandi Clark worked with Keri’s parents to commission this piece, with the sculpture taking about one year to complete. Clark shows her work in many galleries across several states including Colorado, Texas, California, Arizona, and in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she lives.

Interestingly, Clark’s first career was as an entrepreneur in the dental industry, owning eleven dental labs in California. During this phase of her life, the artist had hands-on experience constructing and sculpting porcelain teeth. This attention to detail and drive for perfection is evident in her bronze sculptures of adults, children, animals, and fountains, which she has been creating full-time since the early 1990s. 

 

About Keri:

Eddie Eason remembers Keri, “She was a popular member of the class of 1987, Keri was in 7th grade when I started. Her nickname was “the rocket” and she held all of the track records (she maybe still holds one or two of them). She had great prowess as a sprinter. Her class was instrumental in the development of the athletic center & track (which opened around 1985). Keri was active in the French club, a member of the student council and National Honors society. She is definitely one of those kids that you miss.” 

“She was adored. I never taught her but I saw her around the school and also when she was working here. She had a dynamic, friendly, happy spirit. She was loved by everyone...an outstanding lady. She loved ESD and was very devoted to the school”. - Janis Hefley. 

While at ESD Keri received the Carol Rugeley Dockery Award, a memorial given each year to an outstanding junior who exemplifies the following qualities: a deep love of God and family, a commitment to learning and scholarship, loyalty to friends, a concern and compassion for anyone troubled or in need, and an efficiency in carrying out any task undertaken. Amongst many other awards and nominations, Keri also received the Chancellor’s Cup for the most outstanding student.  

When Keri was 16 she completed her first solo flight, upholding a family tradition by earning her flight certificate on her 16th birthday, even before taking her driver’s exam. There were a couple of lovely photos of her in the Dallas Morning News with titles “The daring young girl and her magnificent flying machine” and “16-year-old earns her wings, in the family tradition”. 

After graduation, Keri once took a job selling Xerox copy machines. Keri’s Mom Nita says she hated it and came home one day to tell her Mom she’d quit! When her mom asked what she was planning on doing next Keri replied she was going straight to see Father Swann. She loved Father Swann. Keri Scholtz Hall became the Director of Alumni Relations, a position that she held here at ESD for a couple of years.

 

This bronze sculpture was a gift to ESD and was commissioned from donations made to the Keri Scholtz Hall Memorial Fund. Dedicated on November 13, 2010

Next time you’re out on the track or driving past on Midway, take a moment to look and appreciate this lovely bronze work of art, dedicated to a very special lady.

The new Local Artist Feature Wall in the Gill Library presents works by Francene Christianson. This feature wall will rotate biannually. 

Francene is a figurative and landscape painter with a background working in advertising and graphic design agencies in both New York and Los Angeles. She is now a full-time painter working out of her studio here in Dallas. Francene was the judge for our MS Private Schools Art Invitation in February of this year.

Francene is giving an Artist Talk this Friday, September 27, 10:10-10:50 a.m. in the Gill Library. Grade 8 Art and Sculpture Students will be in attendance however, the talk is open to all students and faculty so please join us if you can.

“I paint people and places that remind me of special times in my life. While these moments are transitory, painting lets me create a lasting memento of an otherwise passing view.

I look for the universal appeal in everyday moments. To do this, I draw inspiration from old family photos, preserving mid-century images in a modern context. I also look for the story in the places where I live.

It's true that everything is bigger in Texas. When I first moved here, I was floored by the great expanses of this state. In turn, my view of landscape has shifted to include aerial perspectives that attempt to capture the sheer scale of place. At Trinity Groves, I plan to continue exploring this series, while also staying open to new inspirations.”  - Francene Christianson 

‘Wings,’ by The Episcopal School of Dallas Middle School Students. Ink on Paper, 78’ x 95” 2018. Displayed opposite the Eagles Nest in the SBS Wellness Center. 

Pictured: Stephen Swann, Grade 8

Last school year, to honor the life of Father Swann, the ESD Middle School students set about creating a piece of art in tribute to him. Each MS student and teacher had the opportunity to create a feather, which collectively made these beautiful wings. 

The installation of these wings was no easy feat! This required the specialists at ‘Signature Millwork’ to create a frame and hanging system that did not impact the wood paneling behind the installation. Signature Millwork is the company responsible for the beautiful wooden paneling throughout the SMS Wellness Center. A special thanks to Jay Michael and Bryan Stuart for their support and involvement with the Art Around Campus Committee to get this artwork preserved and hung in remembrance of our Founding Rector and Headmaster, The Reverend Canon Stephen B. Swann.

‘Vision,’ by Vicky-Forsythe-Smith, class of 2012. Graphite on Paper, 48” x 96”. 
A ‘Purchase Award’ piece, newly displayed in the Gill Library.

Elizabeth Wilson recently got in touch with the artist to let her know that her drawing has been installed in a more prominent place on campus, where it can be appreciated by more students and adults alike. She asked her a few questions about herself and the work, what inspired her to create the drawing, the process, and inspiration for working large scale, how long it took to draw and to tell us a bit about what she’s doing now! The following is what Vicky had to say…

I love to see that a little (well, pretty large) piece of me is still around ESD. Currently, my career has shifted to the digital space. I am an art director at an ad agency, Digitas, in New York with my focus in digital marketing. Basically, I Photoshop in my sleep. After starting my college experience as a fine arts major at the School of Visual Arts I quickly realized design was going to be my lane.

Drawing will always be the fundamental form that any artist must learn before excelling in any other medium. I don’t think that means you need to be great at it, but you do have to learn it. There are so many rules to learn and while they don’t all have to be followed… they are vital in understanding form. SO, drawing is where I started in high school. I always had a knack for realism and Kathleen Raymond, the art teacher at ESD at the time, encouraged me to push further than just leaning on that skill. Every week I could bang out a hyper-realistic drawing, but she was right. Those works started to lose their power when produced in a constant stream. Scale seemed like the obvious way to push these to a new and more exciting form.

Chuck Close was always one of my drawing heroes. This drawing, as well as another full-face one, are my attempts at directly copying what he was doing. The full-face portrait was done first. It is 4ft x 6ft and took about three weeks and 36 4B pencils to complete. Vision (which I don’t remember naming Vision, but I guess that checks out) was done because of a blank wall ESD had at ISAS that was in prime viewing space. Ms. Raymond asked me to make something big, fast. Thus, Vision was conceived and born in about three days. I took a photo of my eyes with my staple high school glasses, created a grid (à la Chuck Close), and drew through most of my classes, every lunch, and stayed late with Ms. Raymond making me tea as I went. I wish I could remember the body count of pencils on Vision… had to be close to 50? Also, I have new staple glasses now.

I cherish that time so much. One quickly learns that there simply is never as much time in the day as in your teens. Art is such a healthy manner of escapism, and I owe so much life-balance in my teens to the sheer amount of hours I spent thinking only about a piece of paper in front of me. Art for the sake of art feels so rare at the current stage of my life. However, I have found that art can just be art when I work with musicians. Working in music is the next step in my journey. I have done a variety of work for musicians including: Dolly Parton, Florence and the Machine, Flume, Pretty Lights, Cashmere Cat, Maggie Rogers, Mattiel, TMWRK, and for the past two years, the creative director for the artist Tanners (we also happen to be dating!) These projects have been album covers, websites, posters, t-shirts, bags, Instagram stories, simply whatever. And it’s all for the sake of art.  

Samples of my current work can be found at my website www.vickyfs.com
 

Next time you visit the library please take a close look at Vicky’s drawing, which is placed near the fireplace. The quality of the work is exceptional.

About the work:
Oil on Canvas, 60’ x 78.5”, 2010. Displayed in the Daryl Johnston Family Dining Commons over the fireplace.

About the artist:
Born into an artistic family, artist Dorian Vallejo began drawing while sitting on his father’s lap as a toddler. His first commissions were at the age of eleven. A few years later at the age of fourteen, he attended his first sketch classes with his parents. Dorian then began his career in his late teens when he began receiving commissions from book publishers in New York while attending the School of Visual Arts in New York City. As the field increasingly began to incorporate the use of computer-generated images, Vallejo felt the need to pursue other avenues with his art. His love of traditional media and people, drew him to classical portraiture and to the gallery world where he had the freedom to express his ideas.

What the late Father Swann said about the painting:
“My goal was to bring the Good Shepherd imagery into the context of ESD. The Head of School is the shepherd and the Commons is the sheepfold. I asked Dorian to show the busyness, both past, present, and future, of the students in a reflection on the glass in my office overlooking the commons. He said that he was open to the painting of reflections. The intent being that the shepherd is always present but, not always presiding or seen”.

What the artist said of Father Swann:
“I remember the time and painting well. It was truly a wonderful experience from beginning to end. Rare is the client who is simultaneously very creative, specific and demanding, yet completely trusting. To clarify, when I say demanding, I mean in his expectation that only the highest level of excellence is natural.  One of the great pleasures I have as an artist is that I occasionally meet people whose brilliance extends beyond themselves to positively affect the lives of everyone in range of their light. I knew immediately that the opportunity to paint a portrait of Father Swann was a rare honor. What I did not know was how much trust he would allow me. I expected a project that might be managed with a high degree of scrutiny, especially after I understood that Father Swann had a specific concept in mind for the painting.  In fact, nothing could have been further from the truth. After initially explaining his idea to me, I was given complete trust to complete a painting that would be commensurate with his dignity, respect, and ESD’s legacy. That unusual level of trust was something that compelled me to create a work of art that would exceed the expectations of an institutional portrait. His portrait remains one of my favorites and without a doubt a unique experience that I will always remember. Beyond the painting, it was a lesson learned on the value of trust, it's power to elevate respect, and draw-out one's potential.”

Gifted to ESD by:
Mr. Bill Felder