Finding their voice: Carson High School students’ artwork on display
Published 12:05 am Thursday, March 27, 2025
Art teacher Karen Lundgren , in grey, visits during the reception held at Heart of Salisbury. – Karen Kistler
Student Gray Crooks, left and Heart of Salisbury owner Wivi DeHaas chat during the exhibit reception. — Karen Kistler
Samantha Summerlin, one of the art teachers, takes a look at some of the work hanging in the shop. – Karen Kistler
Several of the pieces of artwork that can be seen during Heart of Salisbury business hours. — Karen Kistler
Kadence Lambert stands in front of two pieces of digital art which she did, at top right and bottom left.. — Karen Kistler
Gray Crooks stands in front of one of the pieces of artwork exhibited at top left. — Karen Kistler
Olivia Trail stands beside her painting of Topsail Beach. — Karen Kistler
Sara Nunez Lopez stands in front of her colorful piece of art on display at top. — Karen Kistler
Allisson Ramirez Quiterio is involved in art for enjoyment. She poses beside one of her pieces, located on the middle bottom. Karen Kistler
Karen Kistler
karen.kistler@salisburypost.com
The artwork of Carson High School art students was showcased for their family and friends and the community to see during a March 21 reception at Heart of Salisbury on East Innes Street.
The work will remain on display until April 20 for anyone that would like to see the 40-plus pieces during the shop’s business hours of Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wivi DeHaas, owner of Heart of Salisbury, said this was the second show they have had for Carson High School, and feel that it’s important to provide this opportunity and focus on for students. “We need to motivate the younger artists to continue pursuing their passion and what better way to showcase their beautiful creative outlet than to bring the community see it,” DeHaas said.
The local business said that they have done lots of shows and try to focus on local artists.
Karen Lundgren and Samantha Summerlin, the two visual art teachers at Carson, were there visiting with those in attendance and looking at the various pieces of art hanging on the walls.
“This is such a great turnout,” said Summerlin. “I’m so excited. It’s wonderful.”
As families arrived, they strolled around the room and looked at the artwork, mingled and enjoyed the refreshments that were provided.
Various mediums and levels of artwork were represented in the art show, as four different levels are taught at the school, including beginning, intermediate, proficient and advanced, said Lundgren, adding that they also offer AP, which is for college credit, “depending on where they go, some colleges accept it, some don’t.”
The show, said Summerlin, had students from ninth grade through seniors in it, “which is really exciting.”
Summerlin said she teaches most of the higher levels and that she loves it.
The art classes are popular, she said, with approximately 200 students a year signing up to be in the class. She did note that the upper levels are probably a bit smaller than the other level art classes.
And just like the mediums they use in their art, the reasons the students take the classes vary as well.
For some, the class is a way to express their emotions and for others it can also be a step in their career path.
Lundgren said that the reasons are all over the place as she shared their philosophy trying to do several things.
First, she said, art builds neurons in the brain, so they are “trying to build those neurons with creativity that we’re doing in class. So it is a healthy brain activity. It is also very relaxing and calming.”
Many of the students may never continue their art as a career, Lundgren said, “but they will do art for the rest of their lives to help stress and just general well-being. So we are encouraging a love of art so that they can have a healthy outlet” and get rid of the stress and put it on paper, which she added can help relieve that.
She also said that they don’t tell the students what to do in their art but encourage them to figure out what they are trying to say and therefore come up with their own style or voice, which can take years to develop.
Summerlin said that she and Lundgren are a great team as she echoed that they let the students develop their own voice.
“If our students leave not talented artists, if they find just a section within the arts that hits their heart and it’s something that they enjoy, that’s what we want for them,” said Summerlin. “Would it be amazing to turn out Picassos? Of course, but sometimes just the joy of it gets lost and that’s what we’re trying to make sure we keep igniting.”
They try to provide many different projects with different materials to “make sure that we touch on all those things because that might be the thing that this young person grabs and that’s what they want to experience. We try to keep our program as well rounded as we can,” added Summerlin.
For Kadence Lambert, a junior who is in the proficient level art class, it is a little of both as she said that art “helps me with my emotions. So if I am angry or something, I go draw and everything is just fine after that. You can really put your emotions onto paper that people would understand.”
Lambert, whose favorite medium is digital, began her art journey when she was 12 and plans on going farther with her art and first attend community college and then go to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Sophomore Allisson Ramirez Quiterio, who said she began art in middle school, said it is “very calm and peaceful. It’s a good way of communicating my feelings without words.”
For her, at the present time, she sees art as enjoyment and did not mention continuing it as a specific career.
Gray Crooks, who is involved in art for the fun of it, enjoys doing realistic artwork using acrylic, which could be seen in several pieces at the show.
Growing up with art supplies always around, Crooks, a junior, said, “I haven’t taken an art class in so long. It takes the fun out. I just like playing with colors.”
Olivia Trail, also a sophomore who began art in middle school, said that for her, art gives her a way “to show my emotions and to get it out” and could possibly be something she continues in college and beyond.
Trail said that her favorite medium to use is probably watercolors, and she pointed out one of her pieces at the show that had meaning to her of Topsail Beach.
Tenth grader Quinn Fields started art in the seventh grade and enjoys working in either charcoal or oil pastels.
“I just kind of picked it up one day, and I just started drawing, Fields said, noting that art “allows me to express myself in ways that I otherwise can’t.”
Sara Nunez Lopez, who is in the ninth grade, said that her sister inspired her to begin art and enjoys working with watercolors. While this is her first year taking art in school, she does anticipate continuing it.
Lundgren, who has been at Carson High School since it opened, got interested in art herself at an early age. She said that when she was three, her very favorite aunt saw her coloring one day and told her, “Oh Karen, you are going to be an artist, and I said, ‘OK.’ I believed her and I just drew all the time and then my mother was a teacher. She taught English so I just kind of followed.”
For Summerlin, who has been at Carson for 10 years, said it was her middle school art teacher who inspired her to be an art teacher.
“It was a place during my day when I could just unwind and not have to worry about it and I wasn’t at that point a super-talented artist. I just loved it. I just really enjoyed it, and so she, just her being so encouraging, really pushed me to want to continue to pursue it so that when I got to high school, I was lucky enough to have a really fantastic art teacher, and that’s really when I started to develop my skill.
