During the First Friday Art Walk this April, Isabella Browne displayed two paintings at The Commons Cafe and Taproom in downtown Bend. Both were heavily emotional works, one a dramatic self-portrait of herself screaming, and the other — her favorite — featuring a pair of hands dripping with paint.

“It represents the struggle of a person trying to keep back their own emotion, trying to make sure that the pain of their emotions doesn’t show but they can’t keep it (in) so it has to flow down,” said Browne, a Caldera High School junior, as she described her favorite painting.

There was no way for anyone to know the paintings were created by a student without reading a carefully placed index card describing the artist. But that’s the point of the Youth Art Takeover: to prove to students they are worthy of being shown alongside established artists and to show everyone else that anyone can be a creator.

Julia Reynolds, an art teacher at Caldera High School, first organized the Youth Art Takeover in 2022. She knew the Bend-La Pine Schools was quickly outgrowing the space where it held its annual student art exhibition at Central Oregon Community College. And the pandemic only renewed the urgency to find a new way to celebrate her students.

The solution was right in front of her.

“What if we took it downtown? What if we talk to the Bend Downtown Association and see if we could take over one of the First Friday Art Walks and make it a cool event?” Reynolds recalled thinking. “So that’s how it became the Youth Art Takeover rather than just a scholastic award showcase.”

Now, the Youth Art Takeover is an annual event involving multiple businesses and galleries in downtown Bend that is only growing. It is open to all art teachers throughout Central Oregon who want their students to participate. This year, there were well over 100 entries, Reynolds said. This year was also the first year musicians were included in the takeover. Next year, Reynolds hopes to expand the entries to include sculpture at the Scalehouse Gallery.

“Next year we are going to be working with Scalehouse, and they have given us the actual gallery space for our showcase. I’m over the moon excited for the opportunity,” Reynolds said. “We know we need a place for more three-dimensional artwork because that’s the hardest to find homes for.”

Which pieces get selected for the Youth Art Takeover varies greatly and depends on the teacher submitting the work. Some chose students whose work showed the most potential, while others had their artists apply for a juried selection among other students or teachers.

“This is the second time I’ve participated,” said Bethany Gunnarson, Sisters High School Visual Arts Teacher. “For me, it was more (getting) together some good student work and putting it up. There wasn’t a formal process. Other teachers do a juried selection, but those teachers will have multiple art teachers per school, and I just have myself, so it’s just my choice of what I think deserves to be celebrated.”

For the students participating in the Youth Art Takeover, it can be a valuable opportunity. For some, participating will expand their portfolios, while some will use the exhibition as a highlight on their resumes. And others simply gain confidence from displaying their art.

From a professional perspective, Marley Weedman, the operations and programming manager for the Scalehouse Gallery, said supporting these young artists is a way to show them that having a career in the arts is possible.

“We got to chat with some high school artists, and one artist in particular showed (me) their work. It was just really fun to get to watch this student artist move from … seemingly nervous to all of a sudden engaging with adult artists that are working in education talking about their future,” Weedman said.

Browne, the Caldera High junior, said she wants to be a musician after she graduates.

And if she doesn’t become that, she wants whatever she does to be creative. While it was not participating in the Youth Art Takeover that inspired that decision, it did help her see what a future in the arts would feel like.

“It feels nice to be a part of something bigger than a school. You get to witness what could be. You can have an impact beyond just an assignment, and it can be something people actually look at and enjoy,” Browne said about participating in the show.