Students walk around and enjoy the new art show, "Memorable Travels." (Photos by Sarah Solis)

To kick off the beginning of 2019, the National Art Honor Society (NAHS) worked on putting together a new art show called “Memorable Travels.” With an array of photographs from trips McLean staff and faculty have been on, the gallery hopes to display the diversity of those around us.

“We tend to imagine the teachers as having a life here, at the school, but in reality I think we all have so many experiences and backgrounds,” main curator senior Nadya Steare said. “It’s just a nice way to think about what brings us together and relate to each other.”

The gallery was able to get 23 participants, all faculty and staff at McLean, to share some of the most memorable adventures they have been on. Due to the beautiful handmade Chinese lanterns and tiny flags from each country hung up in the window, walking into the gallery feels like walking into a different world.

The project leaders made the art show interactive, allowing for visitors to give feedback on a comment board and map out the places they, themselves, have been.

“We wanted the show to not only be something you look at, but something that you could also participate in,” Steare said. “I thought people would be inspired by where they have been and to get them thinking about their own travels, the map appeared.”

Due to the amount of effort the NAHS put into making “Memorable Travels” possible, I recommend going to see the gallery before it is taken down.

“I think when you go into a project, you don’t expect it to be easy,” Steare said. “But what you don’t think about is the little things you didn’t plan for, and the little setbacks, especially when you are hanging the show up. It’s a lot of work, but it is very worth it.”

With that said, Steare is hoping to have at least one more show up before the end of the year.

“I’m a senior this year, I would like to do at least one more, because it just seems kind of sad that this is the last one,” Steare said. “My goal is to have another show before the school year ends, but I hope that it continues into next year and appears every now and then.”