|
|
|
PITTSBURG —
Pittsburg Art Walk had a lot going for it on Friday, including perfect weather and good scheduling.
“We always have really good luck when we participate at the beginning of Pittsburg State University Homecoming activities,” said Rachel Patterson, an organizer of the event. “We’re usually blessed with good weather, too.”
Patterson said that there were around 20 artists taking part in the walk, which spread between Third and Eighth Streets on Broadway, along with six musical groups.
She and Kris Hartley, who was assisting her, were based at Europe Park and handed out maps showing the locations of art exhibits and musicians.
One exhibit getting special interest was at the Doggie Bag resale shop, operated by the Southeast Kansas Humane Society as a fundraiser. Girard High School 2D/3D art students of Nicole Meyer-Foresman did portraits of some homeless pets at the society’s animal shelter.
She said that she and husband Jim Foresman were sitting on their porch talking about something to do, and came up with the idea of giving the students something to work on that was beyond themselves.
“I took 14 students to visit the SEK Humane Society,” Meyer-Foresman said. “We were armed with cameras, and each student was matched with an animal and spent time playing with it. We took photos and used them to work on our first painting project of the year. The students painted the animals in their own style.”
She added that the students also bonded with the animals.
“There was a lot of talk around the classroom about who could adopt who,” she said.
Friday morning the students arranged the dog and cat portraits at the Doggie Bag.
“For some of these students, their pet portrait is their first major painting,” Meyer-Foresman said. “But we all decided that, if any of these animals get adopted, the person who adopts the animal will receive its painting as a gift of our appreciation.”
GHS art student Alex Battitori said she hopes that the portraits will raise awareness of the plight of homeless animals.
“We have two dogs and two cats, and all but one of them were adopted from the SEK Humane Society,” she said.
The paintings were definitely crowd pleasers.
“The big dogs at the Doggie Bag are just fun to look at,” said Laura Washburn.
Christina Bartlow, another exhibiting artist, said she hadn’t even realized that the paintings were done by high school students.
Pittsburg Art Walk had a lot going for it on Friday, including perfect weather and good scheduling.
“We always have really good luck when we participate at the beginning of Pittsburg State University Homecoming activities,” said Rachel Patterson, an organizer of the event. “We’re usually blessed with good weather, too.”
Patterson said that there were around 20 artists taking part in the walk, which spread between Third and Eighth Streets on Broadway, along with six musical groups.
She and Kris Hartley, who was assisting her, were based at Europe Park and handed out maps showing the locations of art exhibits and musicians.
One exhibit getting special interest was at the Doggie Bag resale shop, operated by the Southeast Kansas Humane Society as a fundraiser. Girard High School 2D/3D art students of Nicole Meyer-Foresman did portraits of some homeless pets at the society’s animal shelter.
She said that she and husband Jim Foresman were sitting on their porch talking about something to do, and came up with the idea of giving the students something to work on that was beyond themselves.
“I took 14 students to visit the SEK Humane Society,” Meyer-Foresman said. “We were armed with cameras, and each student was matched with an animal and spent time playing with it. We took photos and used them to work on our first painting project of the year. The students painted the animals in their own style.”
She added that the students also bonded with the animals.
“There was a lot of talk around the classroom about who could adopt who,” she said.
Friday morning the students arranged the dog and cat portraits at the Doggie Bag.
“For some of these students, their pet portrait is their first major painting,” Meyer-Foresman said. “But we all decided that, if any of these animals get adopted, the person who adopts the animal will receive its painting as a gift of our appreciation.”
GHS art student Alex Battitori said she hopes that the portraits will raise awareness of the plight of homeless animals.
“We have two dogs and two cats, and all but one of them were adopted from the SEK Humane Society,” she said.
The paintings were definitely crowd pleasers.
“The big dogs at the Doggie Bag are just fun to look at,” said Laura Washburn.
Christina Bartlow, another exhibiting artist, said she hadn’t even realized that the paintings were done by high school students.
“All of these are amazing,” she said.
Bartlow’s collage, titled “All Is Well,” was installed in a store window a few feet away.
“I love collages,” she said. “I like to do things on old tattered wood, anything that’s not canvas.”
The GHS students were also doing an art project in a vacant building a short distance north of the Doggie Bag. Meyer-Foresman bought several mirrors in the resale shop and the students were going to arrange them on a ledge inside the window, as well as tape a light-weight mirror to the glass, then paint around them.
“Since it’s Halloween, you might want to do something like Medusa snakes for hair,” the art teacher suggested.
Sharon Keller displayed her paintings in her gallery off Broadway on Fifth Street, including a series inspired by the Dust Bowl.
Also in her gallery was a piece by Paul Smith, Pittsburg State University professor emeritus. It is a work reflecting his political concerns.
“I’ve combined Picasso and Romney’s 47 percent,” Smith said. “They don’t call me Mr. Subtlety for nothing.”
The walk included something for about anybody, including music lovers.
“We enjoyed Joey Pogue’s music,” said Roland Sodowsky. “We’ve enjoyed everybody’s music that we’ve heard.”
