Teen artists, performers will explore dreams and the subconscious at the Neutral Zone

Cassidy Moravy-Penchasky, a junior at Community High School, suggested the title “Down the Rabbit Hole,” but then she thought “it was too close to Alice in Wonderland,” she says. “A lot of other people wrote down ideas related to the subconscious, like dreams or illusions, so we mixed our ideas together,” she explains.

Fauster Kitchens, a junior at Community High School, is “kind of obsessed with Jungian and Freudian theory. I find the subconscious to be an incredibly interesting thing. It’s seldom that as people we are able to explore our subconscious - the metaphysical world that resides in our own minds. By allowing people to express things outside of physical reality in their art, they can see those things (outside of ourselves) in a pretty raw sense. I think it’s a cool concept to explore in an art show,” he says.

High school students from Pioneer, Huron, Skyline, Community, Greenhills and Dexter high schools, and perhaps a few more, will participate in the “DREAM” show. The exact number of teens in the show is unknown, but you can expect it to be a lot. Students in VAC reached out to area high school teachers to encourage them to plan class projects around the show.

The teens in VAC expect the show to have a lot of variety. “There is going to be a lot of room for interpretation in this show. People can interpret [the theme] in a personal way,” says Mary Salisbury, a junior at Community High School.

All of the members of VAC are going to be in the show. Kitchens is exploring his interest in the subconscious with “a massive installation piece that is going to involve video, sculpture - it’ll be mixed-media,” he says. He is also making an “androgynous Victorian outfit that will mix elements of male and female fashion,” which he hopes to have ready by show time.

They also expect there to be many examples of multi-media art and performance pieces that incorporate numerous types of creative expression. Cassidy Fowler, a junior at Pioneer High School, is “planning a piece that will incorporate poetry and dance. I’ve mostly shown photographs at Neutral Zone art shows in the past, but I’ve also been getting out there with my poetry in the last year or so,” she says.

Colin Leach, a junior at Community High School, is exploring dreams and the subconscious with fashion. “I’m using fashion to address the emotion of falling or being lost,” he says.

Lauren Kuperman, a junior from Community High School, is accessing her subconscious by “painting something to get my emotions out,” she says. “It won’t be something specific like a tree. I’ll just let the brush go where it wants and hope it turns out!” she laughs.

VAC and other Neutral Zone regulars are collaborating on a few projects for the “DREAMS” show. Teens in “Reform,” a clothing alteration group that meets at the Neutral Zone, are working together to build “a giant octopus for the stage area. We are trying to make it look like it’s underwater. We’re using fabric and other materials and lighting,” says Colleen O’Brien, a sophomore at Community High School who participates in both VAC and Reform.

A number of the students in VAC are planning to pursue art and arts administration when they go off to college and get jobs. Some of the seniors have already applied to art schools. Art school recruiters have been invited to the “DREAMS” show, from a number of schools in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois.

VAC teens who do not foresee pursuing a career in art are still learning important skills that people use in a lot of different fields. They throw out a list of lessons they have learned planning, coordinating and promoting art shows. They are learning how to motivate others in the community, they feel pride in taking a leadership role and, above all, they have enjoyed working on art and events together as a group.

“Being here [at the Neutral Zone] really helps me get started on ideas. It gives me a reason to be creative and make art,” says Meredith Patrell-Fazio, a senior at Greenhills High School.

“Usually when we’re making art here, it’s not like we all go off to our own corners. There is a lot of collaboration between people and a lot of discussion,” Kitchens adds.

"DREAMS" takes place from 7-10 p.m. Friday at the Neutral Zone, 310 E. Washington St. Admission is free.