New paintings, drawings, photography, prints, and multimedia works demonstrate the intense study by young adult artists participating in Hyde Park Art Center’s Teen programs. Under the guidance of professional artists, nearly twenty teens developed their creative voices over the course of 15 weeks. These young artists chose to address the challenges in articulating perplexed thoughts, feelings, and emotions into individual works of art.

Complex topics such as gentrification, justice, healing, and meditation were discussed during the course of the teen programs. These issues were identified by young artists as having lasting impacts on their lives and motivated much of the work presented. Other works address more intimate, personal struggles such as self-representation, and emotional turmoil. Artworks included convey themes that students have been grappling with, some of which have been resolved and some which have not. The phrase “it be like that sometimes” has existed as a slang expression about the various trials of the human experience, and embraced by teens as they deal with the unknown.

Teen Programs are run by the Art Center’s Teen Programs Manager, Alex Herrera. The exhibition is curated with the assistance of Julia Koreman, 2018-2019 Exhibitions Assistant. Artist mentors include Jackie Moore, Tony Smith, Jasmine Barber, Rhonda Wheatley, Justin Nalley, and Cecil McDonald.