ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM | RAM TALKS ART | CHECK OUT THE '67TH YOUNG ARTIST SHOW'

RAM Talks Art: Check out the 67th Young Artist Show

By Elizabeth Dailing, Education Director, Rockford Art Museum

This year at Rockford Art Museum, we are hosting the 67th Young Artist Show exhibition. If you haven't seen this show before or seen the amazing work that students in our region produce, this is your chance.

The High School Division, which included juried work by 18 high schools resulting in more than 200 pieces of work being shown, recently closed. It was an amazing array of talent, skill, creativity and beauty.

I have to warn you—it might take a little ego-checking of your own when you see the talent in the work that a second-grader produces!

Sunday, April 13, we opened the 67th Young Artist Show: Youth Division. The Youth Division invites students in grades K-8 to have their artwork hung in a museum. More than 50 schools submitted work to be displayed in the show. Every type of school from public to private, parochial to home-school has work in this year's exhibition.

The 67th Young Artist Show: Youth Division runs through Sunday, May 11.

Take the time to see this show. It's a chance to see what educators and students in our community are doing for the visual arts. It always makes me take a minute to appreciate the freedom that creativity offers children who may not have many other outlets. It is this creativity and freedom of expression that needs to be supported through art. Just try to remember how much time you spent as a child working on art projects that you were only too proud to share.

Each year, we give recognition awards for the Young Artist Show: Youth Division. Recognition awards, selected by RAM staff, are given to one student per grade for an outstanding piece of artwork.

This year's award winners are as follows:

Gwyneth Andres, Johnson Elementary School, kindergarten;

Mariah Morse, Morse Home School, first grade;

Victoria Helm, Riverdahl Elementary School, second grade;

Margaret Fraser, Loves Park Elementary School, third grade;

Adali Johnson, Rockford Christian Elementary School, fourth grade;

Alli Tennant, Whitman Post Elementary School, fifth grade;

Jenna Leaich, Machesney Elementary School, sixth grade;

Chloe Firth, West Middle School, seventh grade; and

Charles Gary, Ellis Arts Academy, eighth grade.

The variety of work that was submitted this year was greater than in years past. This year's eighth grade recognition award winner won for submitting a stop-action claymation project. So, when you visit the exhibition, you'll see Charles Gary's work on display on a plasma screen in the museum's Anderson Gallery.

The fact that our middle-school students have the opportunity to work with new media shows unlimited potential for their exposure to visual art career opportunities. With teachers willing to explore non-traditional means of visual communications, students in our community might just find a talent they have that otherwise would have gone undiscovered.

So, if you want to be inspired or just spend some time enjoying art, take a break and stop in to see the Young Artist Show. I promise you will leave with a smile on your face and maybe even some inspiration to pick up a paintbrush and see what artistic talent lies within you.

Contact Rockford Art Museum Education Director Elizabeth Dailing at edailing@rockfordartmuseum.org.

from the April 23-29, 2008, issue

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