The Chicagoland 4×5 art exhibition held its annual art event, highlighting small scale artwork, on Nov. 10 at Oswego High School. The exhibition showcases more than 1,000 art pieces each year, from middle and high schools all over Illinois. The exhibition is the largest “small” art show in the nation, with 49 Illinois schools currently participating. 

“There was so much beautiful art at the exhibit,” Aimee Rounds ‘22 said. “The amount of detail a lot of art pieces had in such a tiny frame was insane.” 

This year, four senior-student artists won honorable mentions in the art exhibition: Evan Sherman ‘22, Grace Burden ‘22, Maria Gondos ‘22 and Rounds. The art exhibit allows entries for eight categories: drawing, painting, photography, relief, sculpture, computer generated imagery, printmaking, and mixed media. Sherman submitted computer generated art, Burden and Rounds paintings and Gondos drawings. 

“My art teacher [Patrick Page] submitted three of my paintings to the art show and two of them actually made it into the show,” Rounds said. “I was really excited when I heard my art got honorable mention, because in a way, it proved that all those hours of painting really paid off.” 

Last year, the Chicagoland 4×5 art exhibition, typically held in-person at Oswego High School, was held virtually due to COVID-19. All art pieces were posted onto a virtual art gallery that can be found on the official website of the Chicagoland 4×5. This year, however, the exhibit was held in-person again.

“My art was in the virtual art gallery last year, but I remember when I tried to see everyone’s else’s art, the gallery took forever to load,” Isabella Chon ‘22 said. “I’m so happy that the event was actually held in-person again this year, because last year was a bit of a hot-mess.”