Columbia art students channeling Georgia O’Keeffe

Student artists at Dreher High School and Rosewood Elementary School are channeling Georgia O’Keefe as they create artworks to honor O’Keeffe and her Columbia ties.

The Richland 1 schools were two out of three statewide to be awarded $1,000 by Columbia College in celebration of the 100th’s anniversary of O’Keeffe’s timeas an instructor at the college.

Students in Dreher teacher Jennifer Gorlewski’s art classes have studied O’Keeffe’s early works, mostly her charcoal drawings. They visited Riverbanks Zoo and Garden to do observational drawings and take photographs, which they have used as inspiration for creating their own artwork in O’Keeffe’s style.

Throughout the process, the high schoolers also read 11 letters the artist wrote during her stay in Columbia. Then they wrote letters to O’Keeffe as if she were alive and a friend of theirs – and they will continue writing letters throughout their creative process.