RawArts student show opens

LYNN – More than 250 North Shore students expressed how they break through the negativity and stereotypes in their lives by creating one-of-a-kind artwork of all shapes and sizes; pieces that now hang on the walls at RawArts in downtown Lynn for the entire city to view.Students from ages 7 to 18 showcased their work to friends, family and complete strangers Thursday night at a grand opening for the exhibit. With music thumping and cotton candy spinning, students like 16-year-old Claire Weaver of Swampscott opened the doors to the inner workings of their minds for admirers.View a photo gallery of the exhibit opening.Weaver showed off a sort of diorama of a sailor navigating a ship in a stormy sea who eventually ends up turning into a mermaid.”It’s supposed to be a transition from negative to positive,” she said.Behind her, Weaver’s mother, Cynthia Zeman, wiped away tears.Thursday was the first time Zeman had stepped foot in RawArts, which her daughter participates in after school and, she said, the intensity and skill of the artwork on display stirred deep emotions.”I’m completely blown away,” she said. “I can’t believe the level of skill and detail and thought. I didn’t think it was as deep as this is.”Across the room, 11-year-old Morgan LeBlanc also showed off her masterpiece to her family.The fifth-grader at Sisson Elementary School had painted a shadow figure of her head and, inside it, she drew a colorful block of colors swirling where her brain should be.LeBlanc said the brain – which featured shapes of her favorite things, such as music notes, elephants and hearts – represented her individuality. The bright colors gave her hope, she said.”I try not to think about the negative side and I try to see what’s good,” she said.Andy Marrero, 11, of Cobbet Elementary School said his piece symbolizes his effort to break through the bad things in his life and into the good.He and several other boys his age had drawn large portraits of themselves. In Marrero’s, he wears boxing gloves and appears to strike through the painting. Framing the piece is the word “powerful.”Marrero said he wanted to show the world through his piece that he’ll fight through adversity and “bad guys” to protect his family and himself.”I have to fight for my family, for curiosity, for intelligence,” he said.RawArts director Kit Jenkins said paintings like Marrero’s allowed the artists to share their emotions and thoughts in a manner they can’t do every day.”They absolutely feel like it’s really tough for them to be seen and heard,” she said of boys his age. “These are the qualities they feel they’re fighting for,” she said.Nearby hung 18-year-old Betsy Sanchez’s mirror.The junior at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute had engraved unsymmetrical puzzle pieces on the small oval mirror. Over the pieces she spray painted the words: “You are you.”She said she purposefully mismatched the puzzle pieces to help visualize the sometimes erratic way life comes together.”They don’t all connect because everything in life doesn’t connect,” she said. But every piece has a purpose – to make “you you,” she said.Sanchez said it’s a thrill to have her artwork on display for the entire city to see.”All the hard work I put into it and people seeing that makes me feel great,” she said.Sanchez’s and the rest of the students’ work will hang at RawArts, 37 Central Square in Lynn, until January. The exhibit is open to the public Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].