Wednesday, April 17, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
23
Expo Night a hit at middle school
By Helen Schmidling
Correspondent
Last Thursday was Expo
Night at Sisters Middle
School. The commons and
surrounding classrooms were
awash in color, music, inven-
tion, and creation. The audi-
ence was students, parents,
volunteers, and interested
friends. The collaboration was
off the charts. Involving many
disciplines, the event attracted
more than 100 visitors, at
least doubling last year9s
attendance.
A bright sign welcomed all.
<Don9t just walk through &
stop and wonder about what
you9re seeing. Ask some ques-
tions. What do you like? What
surprises you? What do you
want to know more about?=
Judy Fuentes, art teacher
at the middle school, encour-
aged all disciplines 3 not just
art 3 to be part of the Expo.
In a world where STEM and
STEAM (standing for sci-
ence, technology, engineering,
arts, and mathematics) are the
keys to a well-rounded educa-
tion program, it was important
for technology instructor Wes
Estvold to set up an entire
room with iPads mounted on
stands where kids and parents
worked together to make stop-
action animation sequences.
Seeing their work on screen
rewarded both individual and
small-group efforts.
At this age, some stu-
dents can be quite shy around
adults and visitors. So it was
also important for students
to interact with those who
came to explore. Seventh- and
eighth-graders welcomed visi-
tors to <Fortune9s Hallow,= an
interactive art installation
with three-dimensional trees,
a waterfall, lighting effects,
music, a fortune wall guarded
by a <Protectress= and a three-
dimensional paper dragon.
The point was to venture into
the <unknown,= where you
may be rewarded with joy and
good fortune.
Sisters High School
Americana Program students
provided music during the
first part of the event, before
the Middle School Strings
Program took the stage. Under
the direction of Taylor Rheault,
violin and cello students per-
formed, most for the very first
time in front of a large audi-
ence. Rheault, whose <day
job= is managing the Sisters
Coffee Company, took the
reins as strings instructor two
years ago, working most after-
noons with nearly 20 students
in this program. This little
concert was added to the Expo
when the original perfor-
mance date was snowed out.
One of the most popular
stations was called <U Create
3 Abstract Art.= Kids created
an inviting sign: <Anyone can
make art, right? Maybe you9re
an artist, or maybe you have
never painted. Or maybe you
did, long ago & blah, blah.
Did you know (art) is good
for you? Being creative grows
your brain, relaxes your body,
and is good for your soul! So
here is a game for you to play!
(no emojis).= The goal was
to make a mural on a huge
canvas, spread across sev-
eral tables. Artists were given
brushes, colorful paint, and
cues, based on a roll of dice.
By the end of the evening, the
canvas was covered in abstract
shapes and positive words.
Fifth-graders explored
landforms, with two tables full
of three-dimensional models
demonstrating their compre-
hension of volcanoes, water-
falls, geysers, mountains,
lakes, deserts, rivers, canyons,
and the sea. Creative choices
of materials included machine
parts and candy, in addition
to the standard cardboard and
paper maché.
Sixth-graders created land-
scapes, using one resource to
develop another, such as look-
ing at a photograph of a tree
to draw the tree and interpret
color and texture. Renderings
were developed step by step,
first with pencil gradations,
then moving on to color in
any medium, concentrating
on blending and creating new
colors. After studying hiero-
glyphics and pictographs,
they also made their own, and
glyph banners decorated the
columns in the commons.
<Juxtaposition,= a wall of
words, invited participants
to mix metaphors and create
images by combining words in
ways that would enable others
to see an image on the wall.
<Juxtaposing words is a poetic
art form,= the sign advised.
A few feet away, students
made a wall of art history that
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Students explored their creativity at last Thursday’s “Expo Night” at SMS.
depicted Vincent Van Gogh9s
bedroom. Van Gogh famously
painted his own modest bed-
room, and the students cre-
ated a life-sized model com-
plete with painted chair and
Vincent9s jacket hanging on
the back. Participants were
invited to take their photo
while sitting in the chair. <In
just over a decade, he created
about 2,100 artworks, includ-
ing around 860 oil paintings,
most of them in the last two
years of his life,= the sign said.
A refreshment station kept
everyone going with donated
cupcakes, cookies, brownies,
lemonade, coffee and tea.
No wall, table, or win-
dow surface was left blank.
Wherever you looked, there
were art pieces, including
small paintings on canvas, big
banners, and tons of positive
reinforcement.
Full STEAM ahead, these
projects show how students
learn to collaborate, discuss
and critique. <Students who
appear to be casual are work-
ing hard 3 thinking visually,
analytically, critically, and cre-
atively,= Fuentes said.
Much of the artwork
remains on display in the
Sisters Middle School com-
mons as a positive reminder
to students, faculty and par-
ents. Some of it will make its
way to the Sisters Library next
month for the annual Student
Art Exhibit. Several pieces
won awards in the annual
statewide Scholastic Art and
Writing Awards. And, as art-
ist-in-residence Gary Hirsch
prompted parents during the
week, <Save your kids9 art-
work. It matters.=
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