Viewfinder: TCF Bank Displays Artwork by Stoney Creek High School National Scholastic Award Winners

The inside of TCF Bank in Rochester Hills has been temporarily transformed into an art museum; its walls are lined with dozens of pieces of artwork by National Scholastic Art Award winners from Stoney Creek High School.

The display, which is free and open to the public, includes artwork by Stoney Creek High School students, including National Scholastic Art Award Winners Audrey Benjaminsen, Katie Doyle, Sara Harbin and Mandy Hess, who was one of only two students in the nation to win the 2011 Photography Portfolio Gold Award.

The students, under the direction of art teacher Diane Heath at Stoney Creek High School, submitted artwork to be judged by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Hess, a senior, is one of only 16 students nationwide to receive the prestigious Portfolio Gold Award. The award also comes with a $10,000 scholarship.

Stoney Creek senior Sara Harbin won individual gold for photography, and seniors Doyle and Benjaminsen both won silver art portfolio awards.

"We're a town that supports philanthropy in art," said TCF Assistant Manager Diane Hoffman. "It supports artists, it does support its students, and this is just another way of doing that."

Hoffman, whose son is also an artist, said she had seen art hanging inside of banks before and wanted to support the artists at Stoney Creek by displaying their artwork for an entire month inside the bank. The display is open during normal bank hours.

"This here is a celebration of the students," said Hoffman, gesturing to the paintings and photos hanging on the walls.

"I think the students, it's extraordinary to do that for the students, especially since we're only two miles from the school," said TCF Manager Cindy Martinez.

This year, the students themselves served as curators for the show, planning where and how each artist's work would be displayed. They also hung all of their own artwork.

"It was a nice educational opportunity for the students to become curators of their own show before they go off to college," said Hoffman.

The show is meant to be a self-guided tour of the artists, with separate rooms for portfolios by specific artists.

"Because of the portfolios this year, the idea was similar to an art gallery this year," said Hoffman. "You have Rembrandt, you have Monet, we have Benjaminsen, we have Hess, we have Doyle around the other wall, and then the rest of the work is interspersed with the rest of the students' work."

Hess, Benjaminsen, Doyle and Harbin and other Stoney Creek artists are expected to attend the TCF Bank Evening Reception on April 12 from 5-7 p.m. The reception is open to the public.

"I like to see how excited they are to have their art up and have people look at it, because they're so proud of what they do," said Martinez.

Hoffman added, "Art is an expression of the soul. It is a gift."