Wiscasset students show their delight at having their work exhibited at Maine Art Gallery. The Wiscasset K-12 student art show continues on the weekends of April 20-21 and April 27-28. (Photo courtesy Bob Bond)
Parents, teachers and children poured into the Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset for the opening of the K-12 student art show on Friday, April 12. For the first time in the years that the annual exhibit has opened the gallery’s season, students presented their work alongside that of their teachers.
The annual K-12 student art show at the Maine Art Gallery opened to a full house. The show continues on the weekends of April 20-21 and April 27-28. (Photo courtesy Bob Bond)
The theme of mentorship continues with “Generations: The Legacy of Mentors,” a concurrent exhibit in the upstairs gallery. This exhibit includes art by the gallery’s founding generations of artists from the 1950s and ‘60s and a younger generation of artists who were influenced by them. It will be expanded in May to include a juried exhibit of member artists who describe the influences upon their work.
“The students love to have their work shown in a real gallery,” said Shalimar Chasse, the grades 7-12 art teacher.
Entering the gallery, one is greeted with a charming cut-paper collage by kindergartener Lorelai Merry called “Baby Owls at Night.” At her young age, one can already see her budding sense of color, design, and even an artistic expressiveness revealed in the birds.
First grader Ryder Bailey displayed an accomplished landscape painting in tempera and magic marker. Tenth grader Erik Dube showed a series of glazed ceramics, which were imaginative and well constructed.
There are many other student creations in multiple mediums to enjoy along with the work of their two teachers, Chasse and the K-6 art teacher, Liz Proffetty. Proffetty has exhibited two wonderful Japanese accordion pop-up books that fold out to reveal delicate paintings on beautiful paper.
Chasse created a variety of artworks in different mediums, including some basketry and unusual metallic buttons.
“My art is a curiosity to try new mediums that I then share with my students,” she said in an artist’s statement accompanying her work.
The exhibit will be open two more weekends, April 20-21 and April 27-28, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A nonprofit organization, the Maine Art Gallery, at 15 Warren St. in Wiscasset, is dedicated to the advancement and preservation of the visual, fine and applied arts through exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations, and educational programs for children and adults since 1958. For more information, go to maineartgallerywiscasset.org and find the gallery on Facebook.
Japanese-style accordion pop-up books by Wiscasset K-6 art teacher Liz Proffety open up to reveal her delicate paintings. (Photo courtesy Bob Bond)
