By Brandon HENSLEY

The next time a teacher catches a student drawing in class instead of paying attention, they might think twice before punishing them.

If they know what’s going on at The Firehouse, that is.

On March 1, the second art exhibit featuring work from CV High students was held at The Firehouse, which boasted two walls of creative, if unusual, drawings in the main room.

This school year, The Firehouse, on Foothill Boulevard just east of St. Luke’s of the Mountains church, has been a haven for kids to come after school on Tuesday nights.

Kids dine on pizza – there were too many boxes to count – get tutoring help, shoot pool, or even play Dungeons & Dragons. Now, thanks to CV sophomores Keneen Shur and Joe Newkirk who spearheaded the idea of the exhibit, there’s art to admire.

“We just kind of started this idea that maybe we could get a bunch of people, and since I know a lot of people at CV that are in our art programs, to just come in and put some stuff up,” Shur said.

Shur added that students come to him and submit their drawings, and on Tuesdays they are posted inside The Firehouse. Anyone is welcome to come and buy any drawing. The prices aren’t set, and mainly go for around $10.

“I don’t want to be unreasonable,” added Shur.

The art is up every Tuesday to view, but not every week is the exhibit though Shur said that was his goal. The drawings range from unique portraits to anti-war messages to, well, the unexplainable.

Shur said Rosemont Principal Cynthia Livingston came in recently and bought a drawing from a high school girl.

“It was [of] a girl sitting down, and you could see her spine through her skin. It was pretty awesome,” Shur said.

Newkirk said he often favors drawing violent images and does many anti-war drawings. Other times, he’ll try and make something resonate with the person looking at his stuff.

“Basically it’s just trying to get emotions out of putting the message through,” he said.

Newkirk drew one image of a man sitting on some stairs just thinking. “I was just trying to get through the process of imagination and all of that,” he said.

Shur said he’s fascinated by drawing pickles (yes, pickles) and has also done a couple of drawings of John Goodman’s character from “The Big Lebowski.”

“I see something cool, I want to do my own version of it, I go for it,” Shur said.

As long as there aren’t any drug references in them, Shur doesn’t censor any student. They can get pretty violent, even.

Both Shur and Newkirk are into digital art, and Shur talked about a class at lunchtime at CV where people from different colleges come in and teach Photoshop, which can help in the inspiration process.

As for where Newkirk gets his inspiration? “Just not paying attention in class, pretty much.”

Don’t send him to detention just yet; this could pay off in the long run.

  CV High, student art