Why do we celebrate Fine Arts Week? Perhaps a better question is, "Why not celebrate Fine Arts Week?"

We must first give credit to whom it is due: John Harkema. (He is also the vision behind our beloved Octoberfest.) For over 40 years, his goal was to celebrate the arts in such a way that would expose students to the artistic excellence of the community, including their peers, and incorporate feedback through outside evaluators in music, photography, writing, etc.

Photo by Nicole Pietzak-Friedrich (cropped from original)

This year's Fine Arts Week, coordinated by Kelly Connolly and Amber Garcia included such an array of performers. 

We learned about the history of the Scottish Highland dances from the Thistle and Heather Highland Dancers of Chicagoland.

Faith Church graciously provided us the space for the Wheaton College Women's Chorale to bless our faculty and students with such dynamic, ethereal and reverent worship music.

Breakfree Ministries is an organization of breakdancers solely dedicated to "unleash Spirit-energized communities from the global Hip-Hop culture to strengthen the family and church." Students were encouraged to participate, and they did! Nathan Canada, fresh from his debut in TC's musical, "Newsies" did his signature backflip, while our very own Mr. Wiener graced the stage with his cartwheel.

This year, we saved the best for last. Each year, our "Best of Timothy" participants are students who have performed for evaluators who offer their professional critiques and rank our students accordingly. The top performers demonstrate their God-given giftedness for their peers. Some (of the many) highlights this year were the gold winners Josh Ellens - drawing; Katelyn Butt - painting; Maddie Drye and Roslyn Steiner - ceramics; Nicole Pietrzak-Friedrich - digital photography; Ian Sianghio's rendition of "Close Every Door to Me" from the musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Juliana Norman-bassoon solo "Allegro Appasionata" by Saint-Saens; Violin duet of Sarah Fox and Rachel Smith “Minuet in G” by Bach. It was a wonderful way to head into Spring Break!