Westerly School, one of Long Beach’s few fully-accredited private K-8 institutions, has asked its kindergarten through fifth-grade students for the second year to express ideas through art. On Tuesday night, their Visual Art Exhibition — entitled “Poetic Images” — was unveiled at the Pinckert Family Art Studio owned by and operated on the campus. Many of the images were incredibly conceptual, with students experimenting with everything from cubism to surrealism to collage that aimed to express the unique personal life and inner world of each artist.

Neil Kinney, Board Chair and current parent, said, “An art exhibition of this caliber, representing artists so young, leaves me refreshed and inspired and brings joy to my heart.”

Under the instruction and direction of Mr. Kevin Doherty, Westerly’s lower school art instructor, along with his wife, Penelope, the goal of the exhibit was rather simple: to give these young artists-in-the-making not only a stage, but an actual gallery to celebrate their year of studying and creating art. And with over 100 works on display, the crowd of some 150 gave them just the stage they were looking for.

“’Poetic Images’ was such a fun event. Mr. Doherty took so much time to make us feel special. He definitely made me feel special,” said 5th grader, Isabella Casillas.