Culture
Area High School Artists Draw Inspiration From Home
By: Sara Brumfield | Athens Messenger
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The Dairy Barn Arts Center hosted an opening reception on Thursday evening for area high school artists who participated in Project HOME — an exhibit of artworks depicting the student's idea of "home."
The students that participated in the program were from Athens, Logan-Hocking, and Nelsonville-York High Schools and the Athens Alternative Education Program.
The program was funded with donations and in-kind contributions that matched a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The grant funded area artists to work with art teachers or enrichment programs to assist students in expressing themselves through art and various media of what "home" meant to them.
The media used to express this sentiment included portraits painted on bricks, ceramics, paintings, "zentangles" and photography. Artists that worked with the schools included Keith Wilde, Safiyah Kabir, Emily Beveridge and Lyn Smith.
More than 100 pieces will be exhibited on the second floor of the Dairy Barn from all participating schools through Saturday. The exhibit hours will run in conjunction with the Dairy Barn's Holiday Bazaar, which is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The pieces will go back to the participating high schools for an exhibit after Saturday.
"We are pleased that we had such a great response from the schools and the students. The grant and matching services provided not only school supplies for the projects, but also local artists that brought their own skills and talents to the project," said Jane Forrest Redfern, executive director of the Dairy Barn. "This work is very personal to each of these students and it displays the enormous talented artists we have in our area high schools."
Nelsonville-York High School art teacher Melissa Campbell said two of her classes worked on pieces for the program. She said the students worked with Beveridge to create ceramic representations of their dream homes.
Another class worked with Kabir to draw images based on what represents "home" to them using pen, ink and watercolor.
"It was wonderful to have artists come in and work with the students," she said. "For many of the students, this is the first time they've had work displayed in an exhibit."
Nelsonville-York students Rebecca Campbell and Rebecca Hill, both 16, said they enjoyed creating the ceramic houses with Beveridge.
"I liked working with ceramics better than drawing," Rebecca Campbell said.
"I thought it was fun," added Hill.
The Dairy Barn Arts Center is also hosting its annual Toy Trade this weekend. People can drop off two new or gently-used toys on Saturday during the Holiday Bazaar and receive a coupon to choose a different toy on Sunday from 1-4 p.m.
Stuffed toys are not recommended. Remaining toy donations will be given to Athens County Children Services.
For information, visit www.dairybarn.org. The Dairy Barn Arts Center is located at 8000 Dairy Lane, Athens.