The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art will continue its tradition of celebrating the works of talented young artists with the return of Artists of the 21st Century, the Museum’s annual student art exhibition.
SAMA’s Loretto and Ligonier Valley facilities will be exhibiting the student-created work, which totals more than 430 pieces, March 4 through April 3.
The exhibition, held in conjunction with National Youth Art Month and the State Arts-in-Education Month, is open to any school that participates in SAMA’s Museum/School Partnership Program.
Through the program, SAMA education coordinators travel to public and parochial schools to provide Arts-in-Education programs designed to enhance student’s understanding of art creation, technique, history, criticism and aesthetics. The award-winning program is the largest of its kind in the Commonwealth.
More than 500 students are represented in the two exhibitions, including Bellwood-Antis Middle and High Schools, which will have student artwork on display at the Loretto Museum.
An opening reception to celebrate the exhibition will be held for the public, free of charge on Sunday, March 6 from 1 to 3 p.m.
More than 20 districts and 60 schools are participating in the student art exhibition this year. Each school is permitted to submit 20 individual projects and two group projects.
Approximately 130 Bellwood-Antis students will have their artwork exhibited at the museum.
Although only 20 individual entries may be submitted, Bellwood-Antis High School art teacher, Paula Carlson explained, “The reason there are so many is because there are several group projects in the exhibit.
“We are allowed to send two group projects. One is the quilt that was made by last year’s 7th grade, presently the 8th grade.”
The quilt was made after an artist in residence session with Jan Kinney, the story teller. Students wrote their own stories and then made a patch that coincided with their story. The patches were then sewn together to make the quilt.
Carlson explained that she chose other pieces from the middle and high school to display. She said she based her decision on factors such as the quality and artistic workmanship.
“Also, anything unusual that students have made I like to send,” said Carlson. “For example, two of the Art IV students made a nine-foot replica of the Halo video game character out of PVC pipe, styrofoam, plaster and paint.”
The students’ artwork will be on display in Loretto March 4 through April 3.
Each of the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art’s four locations, Altoona, Johnstown, Ligonier Valley and Loretto, are open to the public free of charge. Hours of operation at the Loretto facilities are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. weekends.
For more information, visit www.sama-art.org or call Tina Lehman, Education Administrator at 814-269-7234.
