The student artists sculpted and painted colorful sculptures and made self portraits.
A three-dimensional trapeze artist will be on display. And student’s colorful, art renderings of their names will be open for the community see.
Center Grove’s annual Festival of the Arts kicks off Thursday as thousands of students from kindergarten through high school seniors will get the chance to showcase some of the art they have been working on all year.
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Students will also produce theater, sing in a show choir production and play in an orchestra performance as part of the festival meant to bring multiple arts together in one community event.
Athletes and students who excel in traditional academics have clubs, scholarships, awards and sports games to show off their accomplishments.
Students who perform well in some aspects of the arts that are not performance based typically do not have an outlet for sharing their gift with the community, art teachers said.
The purpose of the art show is to offer recognition to those students, they said.
“It empowers them to know that they have been acknowledged, just like it does for anyone else in any other fields,” said Rick Jones, Center Grove High School art teacher.
Every art teacher in the school district has been selecting art they think would be a good fit for the show. They look for art that shows a student’s growth, is unique or is excellent, art teachers said.
Carly Lancaster, art teacher at Maple Grove Elementary School, uses the art show as a confidence booster for her students. She routinely chooses art to be put in the show and announces which art will be put in the show and why to her classes.
Students will then do their best with each assignment, likely in hopes of having their art showcased, Lancaster said.
“They get to see what it takes for their work to be chosen and for the next project, I see the student trying hard,” she said.
Center Grove’s art show started more than 32 years ago. However, in 1996, theater and music was added to help draw in a crowd and to showcase different types of art, Jones said.
Jones got the idea to make the event an all-encompassing art show after a similar idea was modeled in Perry Township Schools, he said.
More than 1,000 people are expected to get a peek at the art the students have done.
“This was something we thought was important to promote our students,” Jones said.
High school students’ art will also be judged by retired teachers and artists, with awards given. That aspect of the art show is one that sets the show apart from other school shows, Jones said.
“That adds a nice quality to our students, when they get a ribbon,” he said.
The art show allows the work they have done all year to be celebrated, said Eva Treece, art teacher at Center Grove Middle School North.
“It is a great experience for students to see their hard work paying off,” Treece said. “It is just a really cool deal.”
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What: Center Grove Festival of the Arts
Where: Center Grove High School, 2717 S. Morgantown Road, Greenwood
When:
Art show viewing: 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday and May 17 and 18; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. May 19 and 1 to 3 p.m. May 20.
Cost: Free
Show Choir Spring Spectacular: 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
Cost: $10
Center Grove Spring Band Concert: 7:30 p.m. May 17.
Cost: Free
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”: 7 p.m. May 18 and 19; 2 p.m. May 19.
Cost: To be determined
Orchestra String Spring Fling: 7 p.m. May 21
Cost: Free
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