Cambridge Art
Professor of Art Brenda Robson reflects upon this year and why our students study art.
5/22/2019
The objective of our art department is to have happy students who learn how to appreciate what beauty really is in God’s creation. Their efforts reveal the thumbprints of God and hopefully inspire viewers to wonder and worship. They make themselves vulnerable by exploring and displaying their gifts of creativity and often feel they are falling short. But that is the blessing and the curse of the creative thinker, trying to capture what is in the mind’s eye and reproduce it in 2D or 3D form. The process can be very rewarding and very frustrating. While some students wish to build skills to take AP Art for college credit, the ultimate goal of CSD art is to achieve an artistic literacy that can help them to speak God’s truth as only they can. Since the artistic gifting comes from Him, whether it is portraying a subject or investigating a form, it is only logical to give back by sharing with others as their act of worship. For many of them that is truly a sacrifice since it is not always comfortable.
I know I echo other professors when I say I feel truly blessed to work with this incredible student body at Cambridge. Art students outdid themselves with their pursuit of excellence in all areas this year. Even though awards are just a byproduct, it is nice to be affirmed. But since our affirmation does not come from man, God gets the glory for the great year we’ve had. I am so proud of the growth each and every student has shown whether they were recognized or not.
Our fall competition, The Association of Texas Photography Instructors, had entries from 99 schools in 7 states. CSD won 7 awards, 2 of those were first place.
Students won 23 regional medals in The Visual Art Scholastic Event, the largest high school art competition in Texas. A record 7 students advanced to State, the top 10%, and 6 students earned state medals with scores of 4 out of 4.
In the Scholastic Art & Writing Competition CSD won 25 regional medals and a record 6 students earned Gold advancing them to Nationals (top 7% of 17,000 entries over 5 states) where 1 earned Silver (the top 1% of 345,000 national entries)!
The art show was a nice ending to all the efforts these students put into their work. The hours each piece demanded were worth it when their professors, classmates, and their families took the time to view them. Monica Spence, our professor of music, gives so much to Cambridge, and her students really were the heart of the show as they shared their gifts of singing and amazed us with their skillful instrumental performances.
Highlights from the art department along with all of the AP portfolios can all be viewed at BrendaRobson.com