Beautifully crafted images of highly detailed foods, Pokémon and injured feet could only be found in one place: Gallery 147. A space commonly occupied by student work was taken over on Sept. 4 including art pieces from 10 teachers at Lane Tech’s staff art show. 

The gallery space is annually left in a lull between the beginning of the year and the end of first quarter as students work to create art pieces to display for the gallery opening. With this space being left unattended for nearly 2 months, the staff came together to make something special for the Lane community. 

Despite the staff work being displayed instead of the students’, they were not absent in the process of creation for Printmaking teacher, Liana Faletto. “I did a series of prints that were inspired by things I would overhear my students saying out of context,” Faletto said. One piece, “He Doesn’t Need a Hat,” consists of a blue figure with red and yellow hair atop drawings of different styles of hats. Faletto said these funny snippets of conversations from students would aid her creative process. “Out of context, it sounded so funny to me, and I would come up with these weird drawings from what I thought maybe you were talking about,” Faletto said.

Another piece featured in the gallery, titled “Lasagna Care Package” by art teacher Sarah Wain, was created amidst the pandemic. 

“It’s something that I grew up with, going to church, people would give people care packages when they were sick or something, and now I am doing that with my church,” Wain said. “I take care packages to families and new babies, people who are sick, so that’s kind of what I was thinking of. But, I also wanted to challenge myself to paint foil, which was a new challenge.”

This painting is just one of many pieces in Wain’s food-inspired series that she began 16 years ago. While several of these food paintings are displayed in the gallery, they can also be found in local coffee shops around Chicago, such as the Backlot Coffee locations on Irving Park and Montrose.

Not only do the students inspire the staff, but these teachers’ works serve as an inspiration to the next generation of artists in the school. Senior Lark Beck said that they “love all of [the work in the gallery] so much”, although they were particularly inspired by the creations of Metalsmithing teacher Kelly Novak, and the work that she completed while in Vietnam, such as a lantern that was “super cool to see.” 

Despite this being the first staff art show, Lane Tech teachers do not intend for it to be the last. “[The] goal is more work from teachers that aren’t art teachers” said Faletto, “Everybody knows we make art. That’s our job. But like, there’s a lot of other teachers that do too.” 

The range of artists in this showcase includes 8 art teachers and 2 non art teachers, including pieces from math teacher Rebecca Atwood, and school clerk Lori Carroll. 

Although the main turnouts from the event were art teachers and art students, other members of the Lane Tech staff were in attendance to show their support. “I know what the kids can produce, … but I wanted to see what the teachers can produce,” said Assistant Principal Sarah Hanly “And I’m amazed, very amazed.” 

The art teachers at Lane worked after school to create a truly one of a kind art show to display the works they make in and outside of the classroom. This exhibit will be open to Lane staff and students until Oct. 16 when they will begin setting up for the first student art show of the year.