CCS Gifted program hosts art show
Published 2:04 pm Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Melayn Martin of JIS stands by her art piece with rectangles and funny faces. (JOYANNA LOVE/ ADVERTISER)
Folk art landscapes by students from Isabella and Maplesville were on display at the show. (JOYANNA LOVE/ ADVERTISER)
Jude Easterling of JIS holds up his string art project. (JOYANNA LOVE/ ADVERTISER)
Art from Clanton Intermediate students featured a variety of techniques. (JOYANNA LOVE/ ADVERTISER)
By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer
Artwork from Chilton County Schools students in the Gifted program was on display at Alabama Power’s Conference Center on May 3.
The exhibit featured work from a variety of local schools and was open to the public.
Tammie Price, Gifted program teacher for Clanton Intermediate and Clanton Middle schools, said the art show had once been an annual event.
“We are trying to bring it back,” Price said.
She said she likes that the event brings together students from multiple schools.
“They get to meet and talk and share their work,” Price said.
A variety of art mediums and projects, ranging from drawings to paintings to string art, were on display.
Pieces could be anything the students completed for the class this school year.
“We … just let them pick their favorite or their best one that they wanted to show today,” Nicole Hoffman, Gifted program teacher for Jemison Elementary, Thorsby and Verbena, said.
Hoffman said those coming to see the show had been sporadic throughout the day but was a good turnout.
“I’ve been impressed with the number of grandparents I’ve had come through,” Price said.
Rachel Mims of Jemison Intermediate said her students had worked on drawings “from one, two and three point perspectives” that were featured in the show.
Several pieces from JIS were in the style of American pop artist James Rizzi.
Melayn Martin, a fourth-grade student at JIS, chose her Rizzi-inspired piece for the show.
“I like to paint with watercolors, and I like to draw, and I like to draw funny faces,” Melayn said.
Her art piece was a combination of the three.
String art was another popular medium with the students at JIS.
“We got boards and let them sand, paint, and then they nailed nails into it and they wrapped the string around it into a pattern,” Mims said.
Jude Easterling, a fourth-grade student from JIS, chose his string art project to be included in the art show.
“I think it was fun getting to nail those things in there, making sure you had them lined up right,” Jude said. “You could pick any color string you wanted.”
He chose to a letter “e” for his design.
Melayn said she also liked the string art project.
Jude said he enjoys working on art projects in the Gifted program.
Stacey Pierce’s classes at Maplesville and Isabella chose completed projects focused on perspective and folk art landscape paintings for the show.
Price’s students featured their animal face posters created with torn paper, crayons, chalk and paint as well as drawings of geodes and cats.
“As a teacher, it is really fascinating to see some of what the other students have done … It’s great to get new ideas,” Hoffman said.
She said having a combined show also gets students excited about art and doing new projects.
Jude said he liked seeing art from students he knew.
“I love to do art,” Melayn said. “I think it is probably one of my biggest passions.”
Melayn said she enjoys the opportunities to “learn stuff that people don’t learn in regular classes” as a part of the Gifted class.
