“Using the simplest instruments — colored pencils and markers — I was able to create something beautiful, something to be proud of,” reflects Bella Tocco, a student at Monroe Middle School, on the Maude Kerns Art Center website. Tocco is referring to her piece “Majestic Still Life,” which will hang alongside the work of 12 other teen artists at the 22nd annual Mayor’s Teen Art Show at Maude Kerns. The show will feature 37 pieces in a variety of mediums, including watercolor, mixed media sculpture and photography. Tennepah Brainard, a 19-year-old at the Institute of American Indian Art, says in the exhibit notes that she hopes that “people will rethink the everyday things they see, without really seeing, through my photography.” After three years of participating in the show, this year will mark Brainard’s last Mayor’s Teen Art Show. Also at the center, see Habitat, a juried exhibit featuring the work of 32 member artists of the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). The artists were asked to interpret the theme “habitat,” which for Jean Wells Keenan led to the use of twigs and fabric strips to “build a comforting enclosure with a circular form,” a process she describes as simultaneous “challenge and discovery.”

Mayor’s Teen Art Show and Habitat will run through Oct. 1 at Maude Kerns Art Center, 1910 E. 15th Ave. Gallery hours are 10 am to 5:30 pm Monday-Friday and noon to 4 pm Saturdays. More information on the two exhibits at MKArtCenter.org.

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