High School Climate-focused Art
The author is a Junior at Madison West High School in Madison, Wisconsin, and a Director for YEPT.
On Thursday, February 13, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) in Madison, Wisconsin, opened its gallery doors to welcome audiences to a new set of exhibits. One of the galleries is filled with climate-focused art created and curated by high schoolers.
The gallery, titled Green Over Grey: The Art of Adaptation, was designed and put together by myself and a number of other local high schoolers who make up MMoCA’s Teen Forum curation team. The Teen Forum, an annual MMoCA program, meets with various museum professionals to explore career paths while working to curate an exhibit.
The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) in Madison, WI.
Green Over Grey is the product of an open call to high school artists from around the Madison area, giving young artists a chance for their work to be highlighted in a professional setting. With its theme of climate change, the exhibit also proved to be the perfect fusion of discrete interests for a number of artists. “The exhibit was an amazing opportunity for me because it allowed me to combine my passion for art and protecting the environment,” said Pamina Nemet, a teen artist whose work is featured in the museum, in an email interview.
The Teen Forum worked closely with museum professionals to select the exhibition’s theme and description. After submissions closed, we sifted through the entries to curate a cohesive set of artwork, ranging from paintings and sculptures to three-dimensional modeling. We assembled the exhibit with the intention to tell a story of hope, and how the planet might thrive — how the green of a sustainable future can overcome the grey of our present consumerism. “We need young voices to be represented when we are making decisions on the future of our planet. The exhibit is just one of many ways in which we can make these messages last,” says Tyler Smith, a Teen Forum member in his senior year of high school.
Artist: Maya Cahill
All of MMoCA’s galleries are free to the public. Green Over Grey will be on exhibit through April 6, 2025. Learn more about the exhibit here.
