Wayne County High School students' art on display at the Guardian Building after DIA stint

For many high schoolers, taking an elective class can make a big difference in their lives . For Madison Bullock, an entry-level jewelry class did just that, and her work has been on display across Detroit.

“When I got to Wayne, they had really developed the art department,” said Bullock,18, who graduated from Wayne Memorial High School in June. “They had ceramics courses, digital art and jewelry design. Obviously, I just kind of got thrown into those and loved it.”

Over the summer, art lovers in Detroit have had a chance to see what one class can mean to a young artist. Bullock was one of more than 50 artists whose art was displayed in The Detroit Institute of Arts third annual Wayne County High School Art Exhibit . The exhibit featured 81 pieces from high school students across Wayne County and ran from June 21-July 21 and then the exhibit moved to the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit and can been seen until Sunday.

The exhibit includes paintings, drawings, prints, photography, mixed media, collage, small-scale sculptures and jewelry. Bullock’s necklace featured in the exhibit, titled “Feed the Flies,” has one word that is clearly legible: “rot.” That's a reference to a Lansing-based punk band, Rot Knot.

“For the beads, I was looking for pages to cut up that were really colorful that had a lot of chaos going on, because of the cover art for their singles,” said Bullock, who lives in Romulus. “Especially their song ‘Feed the Flies’, which is what I named it off of, was very colorful.”

Bullock immediately wanted to incorporate art into her school day after transferring to Wayne Memorial High School during her junior year. By the end of her senior year, she was taking five art classes a day.

Bullock plans to study philosophy at Henry Ford College in the fall, and continue the jewelry business she started this year.

“I have a lot of fun doing it,” Bullock said. “I make necklaces and bracelets out of wire, and I have made Taylor Swift friendship bracelets for my friends. If I can make people happy by doing what I know I can do, I might as well keep doing it.”

Erika Hanna, Bullock's teacher at Wayne Memorial, said Bullock is prolific.

“Madison has done a lot of really cool work in my class, and she always goes above and beyond,” Hanna said. “If I have an assignment, instead of making one for the assignment she would always choose to do two or three of each assignment, because she is such an efficient and fast worker.”

Starting a conversation

Madelane Martinez, created a paper-graphite piece, titled “Is this what I AM?” that she hopes will shine a light on racism.

“There are so many stereotypes and labels that are often placed on Hispanics and Latinos and Latinas and often it's not talked about enough,” said Martinez, who graduated from Cass Technical High School in June. “Coming from parents who experience a lot of racism in the country, it made me want to make something that brings more attention to a subject that isn't talked about enough in my community and at my school”

Martinez plans to attend the College for Creative Studies in the fall where she will major in studio art. She estimates that her piece on display took more than 36 hours to complete.

"It was the first piece that I'd done that big and it was definitely twice as big as my usual pieces. I would just spend all day in my room just drawing and I eventually finished it,” she said.

The Detroit Institute of Arts Wayne County High School Art exhibit has been held yearly since 2022. There are usually 200-400 high school art submissions every year.

“We hope all Wayne County high school students submit their work to be a part of the exhibition," Ani Garabedian, Manager of Community Engagement Programs at the DIA, said. “The call for submissions will be open again in the spring of 2025. More details will be available on the DIA website in the new year.”

Julia Roeder, a Free Press apprentice, will be a senior at Grosse Pointe South High School in the fall.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Wayne County High School students' art on display at the Guardian Building after DIA stint