![A Palo Alto Art Center staff member guides a visitor through the Youth Art Exhibit. According to 2D visual arts teacher Tracey Atkinson, going to the exhibit helps increase empathy. "Our students work hard, and a lot of times their work goes unseen," Atkinson said. "This is one of the chances people can go to see it. When people go to see it [art], it reminds you of the power of human expression and makes you more empathetic as well."](https://palyvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_8680-e1779318724725-1200x667.jpeg)
Local art fans have just a few days left to see the various art pieces — ranging from 2D paintings to 3D sculptures — decorating the Palo Alto Art Center as part of the annual Youth Art Exhibit. The exhibit, which runs from May 2 to May 24, features many artworks made by Palo Alto High School students.
Palo Alto Unified School District art teachers from K-12 selected art by their students to be displayed at the exhibition.
Tracey Atkinson, a 2D visual arts teacher, has her students’ art featured in the exhibit and said she chose student art based on their visual cohesion.
“I try to represent as many different kids as I can from my classes,” Atkinson said. “I take the works that are the most complete and have a high level of skill, personal voice and creativity, and I put all of them [the art] together and make sure that it looks good — they have to complement one another. It’s all about the curation.”
According to Atkinson, the works being displayed this year were are very diverse.
“We have a few more three-dimensional pieces,” Atkinson said. “We had several reliefs. A relief is a 2D piece that comes off of the wall. … There’s a piece called ‘Bubble’ that is made by an AP [art] student, and it is inside a catering tray. It pops out of the wall. It was surprising that it turned out so well, because at first you’re like, oh, a catering tray. But it really worked out well and served her purpose.”
Sophomore Caitlin Ko, one of Atkinson’s students, said that Atkinson was featuring more works from freshmen and sophomores.
“She [Atkinson] said that she wanted to display more of the underclassmen’s [art],” Ko said. “It’s pretty cool that she’s showing off younger students’ work, because usually it’s just for the honors and AP classes, which you can only reach as a junior or senior. It’s nice that she’s displaying a wider variety of Paly students.”
Sophomore Jani Jian said that she planned to go to the art exhibit, and similarly encourages others to go, even if they don’t have any of their own artwork showcased.
“I think it’s nice that PAUSD has a youth art exhibit because a lot of kids don’t really know where to put their art or share it,” Jian said. “I think it’s a good opportunity to go check it [art exhibit] out, even if you don’t have your own art up there.”
