When Oskaloosa High School students Caitlin Crile and Diana Petrikey walked into the Mainframe Studios 3rd floor gallery in Des Moines, they didn’t expect to see so many familiar names or to feel like they belonged. But that’s exactly what happened.
Crile, a junior, and Petrikey, a sophomore, are currently participating in a month-long art show hosted by Mainframe Studios, the largest nonprofit artist studio building in the United State, located in Des Moines, Iowa. The exhibit, called FACE (of Mahaska County) @ Mainframe, brought together artists from across the region, many of them professionals, with just a few student artists included.
“It was really interesting,” said Crile. “The building reminded me of a place we visited in Omaha, there were people working in their studios, and it just had this really creative energy.”
Petrikey agreed. “It was big and full of incredible art. It’s kind of overwhelming, but in a good way.”
The show is curated by FACE, Fine Arts and Cultural Events of Mahaska County, which works to promote local artists and create more opportunities for creative expression in the region. The opportunity to exhibit at Mainframe Studios came after the organization was invited to host a member show for the month of April, including during the highly attended First Friday event.
“Mainframe Studios approached me back in January,” said OHS art teacher Matthew Kargol. “They told me, ‘It can be anything.’ So we decided to do a member show and bring artists from Mahaska County to Des Moines.”
The show featured more than 100 pieces of art, hung salon-style across multiple gallery walls, mixing professional and student artists with no separation or labels, just art. Along with the variety of regional professional artists, OHS’s two students’ artworks, and OCSD art teachers Matt Kargol (OHS) and Briana Bartlett (OES) are also on display.
“What I love about that,” Kargol explained, “is that our students were displaying work right alongside established professional artists. And it wasn’t a student show… it was an art show. Their work held up beautifully. You couldn’t tell who was a student and who wasn’t. It was all high quality.”
Crile submitted several pieces to the exhibit, including one particularly personal painting of a kookaburra bird perched in a eucalyptus tree. The piece, titled The Chrome Prince, draws inspiration from a childhood nursery rhyme and Crile’s early years growing up in Australia.
“It’s one of my favorites,” she said. “It reminds me of home.”
Petrikey’s contributions included both traditional and digital art, created using gouache, acrylics, and digital tools on her laptop and iPad. She says many of her pieces were made outside of class, sketched during travel or while reflecting on personal experiences.
“Some of the pieces were done at school, but a lot were from my own time,” she explained. “I just love creating wherever I am.”
Neither Crile nor Petrikey are originally from Oskaloosa, and both described how art helped them feel welcome in a new and unfamiliar community.
“For me, art was the thing that felt accepting when I came here,” said Crile. “It’s hard moving to a small town where it feels like everyone already knows each other. But Mr. Kargol has been so welcoming. He wants everyone to be part of it.”
Petrikey, who moved from Russia and is in her first year in Oskaloosa, echoed the same feeling.
“It’s hard at first, but art has been a way to connect. I’m glad I’m included.”
Both students have big plans for their futures. Crile hopes to pursue art education and teach for the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) a system of schools she attended while living overseas. Petrikey is aiming for a master’s degree in fine arts and dreams of exhibiting her work in galleries around the world.
Kargol says that shows like this help students envision those goals.
“They’re getting to experience what professional artists experience,” he said. “They’re learning that they belong in these spaces.”
And for one night, on that First Friday, a thousand people filtered through the gallery in Des Moines it wasn’t about being a high school student. It was about being an artist.