Artwork created by seventh grade art enrichment students at Newtown Middle School was on display at the school on Wednesday, January 20.lcoles25.wix.com/k12create.

These still life drawings of gourds, according to NMS art teacher Leigh Anne Coles, furthered a summer assignment to draw a bowl of eggs in pencil. Drawing the gourds, according to Ms Coles, helped the students better understand shading, composition, and other drawing techniques.

Along with learning the drawing techniques, Ms Coles said the students also learned about cultural concepts related to "history and memory," how art has been used to record and document present and past history.

Students watched clips from a documentary that addressed how to set up a composition using a viewfinder, how to map in relationships between objects, lighting, the history behind still lifes, and where/how/what they have evolved into today, according to Ms Coles. More photos of student artwork and information about the NMS art department is available online at