Last weekend, Portland Museum of Art honored several Lakes Region art students whose work is now on exhibit in celebration of Youth Art month.
On Saturday, the crowded museum auditorium flickered with flashbulbs as proud parents took snapshots of their children receiving certificates of achievement from museum coordinators.
In the museum’s cafA?© and foyer, more than a hundred pieces of student artwork hung on display for the wondering eyes of parents, students and teachers who attended the event.
And many marveled at the level of work these students create in the classroom.
“This was painted by a third grader?” one spectator remarked in disbelief as she gawked at a rather impressionist watercolor of a mountain’s reflection in a lake.
Throughout the evening, exhibit visitors walked and talked while the students explained their artwork and looked at paintings by their contemporaries.
Of the ten Lakes Region artists selected this year, there were pieces like Windham Middle School artist Miranda Look’s “Untitled,” an enlargement of a purple Converse sneaker whose color, depth and size made the painting larger than life. Or an eerie “One-Eyed Monster” by Windham 5th grader Kylie Bangs with vibrant colors and a fake gem for its eye.
Leaning toward the more provocative was Windham High artist Dorson Plourde’s “Unfortunate Beauty,” which depicted a naked body dancing elegantly with an assault rifle slung over her shoulder.
A portrait of a young woman posed with her long hands and mouth in shock by fellow Windham High artist Elylse Robichaud attracted many onlookers as well.
Robichaud, a senior, is an advanced student of Windham art teacher Jeff Bell’s who plans to continue her studies at Savannah College of Art in Atlanta next fall.
“Creation is one facet of life that makes us human beings,” said Bell speaking to the importance of art education. “We lose out on a certain quality of life when we don’t have art in our lives.”
Another young artist honored that night was Eleanor Cusack, a third grader at Songo Locks Elementary School in Naples. Her geometric portrayal of a young girl sneezing – complete with a real tissue – also drew attention at the exhibit.
“I feel famous,” Cusack said of seeing her art on the wall of a nationally-known museum.
She loves to draw in and out of the classroom, explains her mother Pamela. Cusack says she enjoys art because she gets to use her imagination and break the rules.
“You get to make a whole bunch of characters and do whatever you want,” she says.
On display through the end of March, each piece of the Youth Art exhibit was selected by art teachers throughout state. The idea is to celebrate student art and showcase the achievements of art education, says Stacy Rodenberger, education coordinator for the museum.
“I think it’s a really important thing that the museum advocates for youth art,” Rodenberger said. “The staff looks forward to it every year and the public gets excited every year. Everyone is very impressed by the work that the kids do.”
Christina Warren, art teacher at Windham Primary, echoes this sentiment.
“It’s an honor for the children,” says Warren. “It celebrates that elementary art and famous art can hang side by side in a museum.”
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