04/09/2008
enlarge
Staff photos by Joe Phelanfrom the Kennebec Journal
Rep. Pingree hears varied proposals for health-care solutions
HALLOWELL Fire that cut communications labeled arson
MONMOUTH Police defended after slim budget rejection
State's schools chief to parley
Wasser will lead newsrooms at KJ, Sentinel and in Portland
BRIEFS
Hockey still in picture for Harrington
Portland boxer to face legend's son
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
$1.3 MILLION FOR HEALTHREACH
Families Matter grows to meet special needs
Chellie Pingree listens to ideas on health care reform
FARMINGTON Rain alters plans for 4th of July
District regroups after budget failure
Vote on county budget hits snag
Burnham driver wins checkered flag at 2 tracks on same day
Maine boxer gets unique opportunity
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
Cony art teacher Christine Higgins said she hopes the colors dotting Cony's walls offer admirers a taste of a colorful spring season after an abundantly gray and white winter.
The sampling of artwork from Augusta students of all grade levels will be on display for what Higgins hopes is the first year of an annual festival.
The artwork is not the event's only draw. A selection of performing artists, including fiddlers, contra dancers, break dancers and thespians, also will aim to please.
The festival takes place 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday.
For Higgins, the top priority Friday is "celebrating kids' creativity," she said. Augusta art teachers will also use the event as an opportunity to show off the school system's art program and explain the purpose of an art education, Higgins said.
"It'll give people a chance to see the continuity of the curriculum," Higgins said, "where the students start and how they develop and grow."
Students serving as greeters at the entrance doors will distribute pamphlets explaining the school system's art curriculum and how children benefit from arts education.
Cony senior Jennifer Smith, 17, said she will display the products of her photojournalism project involving the Augusta Police Department. Smith said her candid photographs of police officers and their work environment will be displayed on a bulletin board during the art festival.
Smith will also demonstrate tile making, carving designs into clay tiles.
Friday's festival will double as a fundraiser.
Cony High School students will sell mugs they created to fund a spring field trip to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts for Cony art club students and others. Students worked with Hallowell Clay Works owner Malley Weber to craft the mugs that will be on sale.
Weber said she worked with the Cony students as a part of Central Maine Clay Artists annual "mug season." She also worked with the high school students last year, she said.
Higgins said Cony Principal James Anastasio encouraged art teachers to host the student art festival. Students preparing to display their art have become excited, she said.
"It's a lot of work, but I think it's very well worth it," Higgins said. "That's exciting for me, to see the kids getting excited about it."
Smith, the Cony senior, said she has spent months preparing for her artistic display. The excitement has built with the festival approaching.
"It kind of just hit me now that it's next week," Smith said Friday. "I've been getting excited kind of getting my stuff grouped together and deciding what I want to do."
Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435
mstone@centralmaine.com
Reader comments
Click here to view or add reader comments