Sandy Hook School Opens Its Doors

In The Name Of Art

 

 

By Eliza Hallabeck

The walls of Sandy Hook School were lined with drawings, sculptures and replicas of masters’ works as painting pallets lined the floor to show visitors where the fourth grade art exhibit was taking place.

Last Wednesday evening marked the opening of the yearly art show at the school. In past years the show has included artwork by the entire school, but this year only fourth grade students participated due to time constraints.

The evening was scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm, but parents, siblings and students started arriving earlier for the June 4 event. The art room was opened for the night for students to display the different forms of art they learned over the year for everyone else to see.

“It is a nice send off for them,” said Leslie Gunn, the art teacher at Sandy Hook School, “and the other kids get to see what they can look forward to.”   

The fourth grade students had helped to assemble the different work stations in the art room, according to Ms Gunn. Tables were set to allow students and visitors to work with clay, acrylic paint, temper paint and Japanese brush work. In the corner of the room two murals were displayed that the students had created during their recess time in a collaborative effort. One other mural was being created as a send off for the year.

“They are working with students outside of their classroom,” said Ms Gunn, who also said she was impressed when students came in to work on the murals.

There are 136 students in the fourth grade at Sandy Hook School, according to Assistant Principal Barbara Gasparine. All of the students take an art class, but not all of the artwork that was created over the last school year was chosen for the event.

Ms Gunn said her favorite project from the year was having the students recreate work from masters.

“One girl chose something to copy, because she thought it would be easy,” said Ms Gunn. “And she learned that something that looks easy could be hard.”

Outside of the main art room students and family members walked the halls to see the work closer. Students occasionally pointed to work they had done, or work their friends had created.

“I feel happy that my artwork was chosen to be hung up,” said Brittany Meisenheimer, a fourth grade student who said she has four pieces of work up in the show.

Sarah Mawdsley, another fourth grader at Sandy Hook School, sat molding clay with one other girl as the artwork swarmed with friends and family of the fourth grade class.

“It is fun to hold clay,” she said.

Sarah said her favorite pieces of artwork from the year were both objects made from clay.

“I did a clay mask and leaf bowl,” she said.

Ms Gunn said she was happy to see the involvement of the kids in the room.

The artwork was on display until June 6, according to Ms Gasparine.