Art. School.

Northwest Academy is hosting an art exhibition, Visual Magic, in the Plaza Building open to both students and the public.

The gallery features mostly local artists such as Jeri Hise and Lucinda Parker.

Northwest Academy trustee Annie Painter set up the event. Painter knows all of the artists in the gallery.

“They wanted to work in schools around the state and Annie said, ‘Listen, why don’t you do a prototype showing and see how it goes, see what the kinks are,’ because they want to take their art to kids all over the state, so we were kind of the guinea pigs,” Mary Folberg, Head of School, said.

George Green, painter, carefully selected the artists featured in the installation.

“My first criteria was they had to be the best of the best,” Green told students at a lunch event on Oct. 2.

Green has been an artist for over 30 years. His works often include illusions and bright abstract shapes, often paired with landscapes.

Alongside Green is Don Eddy, who has been painting for more than 50 years, and Green’s wife Jeri Hise, as well as many other artists. Eddy often paints realistic cityscapes, as well as various flora, and Hise’s work is frequently figure painting inspired by renaissance art.

According to Folberg, setting up the installation took a lot of work.

“It takes a real clean background to hang artwork and really make it look good and it needs good lighting, so those are two things that we handled,” Folberg said. “Lots of windows had to be blocked out so we put those temporary things in the windows. We can always put them back in if we have another art show or the teacher wants the windows covered.”

Although the school spent some money preparing the building for the paintings, the artists donated their work for the show. They also donated the new lighting, signage and hours of installation.

“They’re not charging us anything at all for the display of the artwork and it’s really a feather in our cap that we were selected for this assortment of Oregon artists,” Folberg said.

Response towards the art has been mostly positive.

“I think that it’s really nice and it actually shows that our school is an art school,” Hannah Paul, a sophomore, said. “I think that it’s really nice that we’re supporting the local artists around Portland.”

A variety of styles and themes are represented in the art.

“I think it’s cool to be able to see all the different kinds of art,” Stella Kaplan, a sophomore, said. “I like the different textures I see and all that stuff, the colors and everything.”

The artwork has also affected the teachers working in the Plaza Building.

“It hasn’t really sunk in for me yet that this is a gallery space now, as well as a school and where I’m working,” Jada Pierce, English Humanities teacher, said. “So it always surprises me at the end of the day to walk out there and see people looking at the paintings, but I think the exposure is good.”

Folberg has expressed worries that a student might accidentally damage the artwork.

“I watch as classes break up and kids are just active and lively and I explained that to the artist when they came in that this is a working school, we have kids in and out all the time,” Folberg said.

Despite worries, Folberg has also found students to be careful around the pieces.

“As scared as I’ve been about something happening, and you know these are really expensive works of art, I think our students have been very, very careful and very respectful of the artwork,” Folberg said.

Some see the art as an opportunity to show Northwest Academy to the public.

“I think that it gives people an opportunity to see not only the art but also our school,” Paul said. “And maybe if they have kids they can enroll them.”

The installation opened Sept. 24 and ends on Nov. 13. It will be open to the public Thursdays and Fridays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.