MADISON – Birmingham Zoo exhibited original artwork by Madison teenagers during La Celebracion, a celebration for endangered animals from Central and South America.

Roger Torbert, Vice President of Education for the Birmingham Zoo, contacted Robin Lakso and Liz Vaughn about the exhibit. Both art teachers, Lakso works at Bob Jones High School and Vaughn at James Clemens High School.

Lakso led a Patriot Path session for students to create the paintings. “Patriot Path is an hour block during our week at Bob Jones where students have a selection of fun, interesting activities. It was the perfect venue to work on this project,” Lakso said.

The James Clemens artists “used our lunch hour, Refuel, to complete the project. Since students have a whole hour free during the day to accomplish various tasks, it was a perfect time,” Vaughn said.

Students applied different styles in their art “because so many people had a hand in this project,” Lakso said.

A group of Bob Jones art students created depictions of howler monkeys, one endangered species For their ‘take’ on the animals, the students used bright, neon hues of pink and yellow with green highlights for a vivid likeness.

Another group at Bob Jones created macaws in a tropical motif. Jenny Norton and Lakso are their art teachers.

Sylvia Cortes at James Clemens painted sloths. “Sylvia is influenced by Salvador Dali. Her work borders on realism in value and structure, but she is exploratory in terms of color,” Lakso said. David Roden painted the background.

This venture allowed “students to learn about giving back to the community through volunteerism and sharing their gift of art,” Lakso said.

La Celebracion paid homage to the culture of Birmingham’s growing Hispanic and Latino community. Centro Legal presented the show. Other contributors included Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Birmingham Museum of Art, Junior League of Birmingham and Yummy Truck.