🌳“Growth Rings 2026” Featured in National Exhibition🌳
Malvern, PA / Eagle, ID – Students of Idaho Novus Classical Academy, under the guidance and direction of artist and instructor Harry Matti Hukkinen, have been selected for inclusion in the national juried exhibition Still Creating: The UArts Community Lives On, on view June 9 through October 1, 2026, at the Henry Art Gallery at Penn State Great Valley.
An opening reception will be held Tuesday, June 9, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public with advance registration.
This exhibition emerges in response to the closure of the University of the Arts in 2024 and brings together work by former students, faculty, staff, and alumni. It affirms a shared conviction that artistic practice preserves memory, honors continuity, and sustains community across time.
The selected work, “Growth Rings 2026”, is an assembled piece by Mr. Hukkinen, created from drawings produced in his art classroom at Idaho Novus Classical Academy. The composition is constructed from hundreds of individual one-inch square ink drawings completed by students in grades K - 7. Each square reflects the disciplined study of the elements of art and principles of design, executed with clarity and restraint.
The project reflects the mission of Idaho Novus Classical Academy, which seeks "...to train the minds and improve the hearts of students through a classical, content-rich curriculum.”
Within this framework, students exemplify the vision of the school to, “…engage the student in the highest matters and the deepest questions of truth, justice, virtue, and beauty.”
“This work demonstrates that young students, when properly trained and guided, are capable of producing work of genuine integrity,” said Hukkinen. “Each drawing is simple. Together, they become something greater, ordered, unified, and enduring.”
This continues Mr. Hukkinen’s established practice of assembling student work into cohesive compositions for exhibitions, emphasizing art’s capacity to transcend individual contribution and participate in a larger, unified expression.
Still Creating: The UArts Community Lives On places this work within a broader artistic context, affirming that disciplined creation, at any level, contributes to the continuity of artistic tradition.
About The Henry Gallery: The Henry Gallery strives to be a cultural asset for Penn State Great Valley and the local community. The Henry Gallery’s exhibition program focuses on group shows of local and regional arts and artists and the community organizations that support and encourage their work.
Contact: Becky Stanko, Gallery Coordinator, rus1078@psu.edu
About Idaho Novus Classical Academy: Idaho Novus Classical Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school, and a Hillsdale K-12 Member School, in the heart of the Avimor Community of Eagle, Idaho. The mission of Idaho Novus Classical Academy is to train the minds and improve the hearts of students through a classical, content-rich curriculum that emphasizes virtuous living, traditional learning, and civic responsibility.
Contact: Dr. Vincent Kane, info@idahonovus.org, (208) 297-5417
