Children’s Art Exhibit

The traveling exhibition Cultivating Creativity 2009-2010: Consolidated Communications Children’s Art Exhibit kicks off its year-long tour in Effingham at Helen Matthes Library, 100 E. Market Ave.

The exhibit will be on view at the library Oct. 6 through 25. Cultivating Creativity showcases some of the outstanding art produced through east-central Illinois school art programs. Presented is art by 41 students, each representing a different school. The art was created during the 2008-2009 school year.

The art work can be viewed at Helen Matthes Library or online at the library’s Web site, www.effinghamlibrary.org. Guests visiting online will be able to sign a virtual guestbook and share positive thoughts on the art pieces. Also on display at the library will be the artwork of ARC Community Support Systems clients.

Representing schools in the Effingham area are Kelsey Beitz, Stewardson-Strasbug Elementary and Junior High School; Andrew Bingham, Central Grade School; Abigail Burgess, West Side School; Jessie Koester, Effingham Junior High School; Alyssa Long, Effingham High School; Laura Milby, Stewardson-Strasburg High School; and Kaylee Phillips, South Side Elementary School.

Beitz’s acrylic painting, “Cherry Blossoms” was created while she was in third grade at Stewardson-Strasburg Elementary and Junior High School under the instruction of Betty Williams. Tenth grader Milby at Stewardson-Strasburg High School also was under the direction of Betty Williams when she created her graphite piece titled “Self Portrait.”

At Central Grade School, fifth grader Bingham created a mixed media piece titled “Flower” under Karen Littleford. The pencil and colored pencil drawing “Bayleigh” created by Burgess while in the second grade at West Side Elementary School was under the teaching of Joyce Green. Joyce Green also instructed second grader Phillips at South Side Elementary School in a pencil and colored pencil drawing titled “Partner Portrait (Levi).” Under the instruction of Terry Harbaugh, eighth grader Koester created “Still-Life” in graphite at Effingham Junior High School. Eleventh grader Long created the acrylic work “Walkin’ on Cloud Nine” at Effingham High School under the guidance of Charlie Huber.

Cultivating Creativity 2009-2010 is sponsored by Consolidated Communications and Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University. The exhibit will travel to 13 area communities, from Assumption to Paris and from Tuscola to Effingham. Tarble Arts Center teams with Consolidated Communications in this annual program to showcase some of the outstanding art by area students and to help raise awareness of the importance of including the arts as part of the regular school curriculum. 

Richard Riley, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Education as part of the publication “Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning,” emphasizes the importance of the arts in a comprehensive education at an early age. “Through engagement with the arts, young people can better begin lifelong journeys of developing their capabilities and contributing to the world around them. The arts teach young people how to learn by giving them the first step: the desire to learn.”

The exhibit is comprised of art works in a wide variety of media and styles. Included are paintings in tempera, acrylic and watercolor; drawings in ink, pastel, colored pencil, crayon, chalk and graphite; and block prints and collage. Other media represented are fabric, clay, metal foil, scratch-boards and mixed media.

Cultivating Creativity is a community engagement program of Tarble Arts Center. Tarble also offers a variety of other educational programs for area schools, including a tour/workshop enrichment program open to area fifth grade and to junior/senior high art students, a month-long artist-in-the-schools residency, guided tours and teacher workshops. Most programs are presented free of charge to the participating schools and supported through Tarble membership contributions and the Tarble Arts Center Endowment.

For more information about the Cultivating Creativity exhibit or other programs contact the Tarble Arts Center at 217/581-ARTS (2787) or tarble@eiu.edu.

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