Seeing Red

July 24, 2024July 24, 2024 Aadhya Yanamadala 0 Comments Hillcrest High School, preston hollow, Schools

Hillcrest students bring the fungi to teen art exhibit

Amid a tangle of metal wires, blindingly vibrant lights, and 2000s club music blaring from speakers, find the creations of high school artists from across North Texas.

The SPARK! PRISMATIC Art Pop-up Experience, which challenged high schoolers to design rooms built from a single-color palette and theme, runs through late September in the historic Southside on Lamar building.

SPARK! Dallas, which aims to foster creativity in youth, collaborated with arts and entertainment company Meow Wolf on the program.

“The experience offers students a platform to unleash their imagination and creativity,” said Christy Howell, exhibition manager for Meow Wolf Grapevine. “This partnership epitomizes the dynamic convergence of art, technology, and engineering.”

SPARK! received 22 room proposals and chose six high school teams to implement their design ideas. Each high school was given one room to transform.

_{Hillcrest High School’s Fungi Delight room focused on the color red with giant mushrooms and other plants.}

Kyra Levels, a Hillcrest High School class of 2024 member, helped her peers design a room centered on the theme “Fungi Delight” and the color red. Featuring elements of nature and curiosities of various textures, the room is reminiscent of the storybooks by Lewis Carroll.

“I wanted the room to feel magical and whimsical,” Levels said.

Hillcrest and the other schools — CityLab High School, Newman Smith High School, West Mesquite High School, Williams High School, and Woodrow Wilson High School — received financial backing from Meow Wolf Grapevine.

“Meow Wolf Grapevine specializes in integrating art with cutting-edge technology to create immersive experiences,” lead exhibition technical engineer Daniel Bornhorst said. “We blend various elements to craft truly unique results.”

The company also provided mentorship and enrichment opportunities for the students.

“These public high school students are amazingly talented,” SPARK! executive director Meg Bittner said. “They created their rooms into an interactive and immersive pop-up experience perfect for social media moments. I invite everyone to come and see it and celebrate these students’ success.”