SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
COMMUNITY
Hermiston students show their art
March library display
features work
from Sandstone,
Armand Larive
BY SEAN HART
HERMISTON HERALD
Hermiston
middle
school students were ex-
cited to talk about their art-
work on display this month
at the Hermiston Public Li-
brary.
At a reception for the
young artists Thursday,
students and teachers from
Sandstone and Armand
Larive middle schools en-
joyed punch and cookies
at the library, where more
than 100 pieces created in
art classes throughout the
year are on display until the
end of the month.
Sandstone art teach-
er Nici Cimmiyotti, who
will display her own work
during one of the library’s
monthly shows later this
year, said the event was a
great opportunity for the
students.
“I think it’s been really
successful,” she said. “I’m
really happy the students
have somewhere in the
public to display other than
just the schools now. I hope
it continues on for the next
few years.”
During each quarter of
art class, Cimmiyotti said
the students usually begin
with a drawing project and
then progress to a painting
or sculpture, and several
examples of each project
are saved for art shows. At
the library, a wide variety
of projects are on display,
and she said the students’
effort is visible in the work.
“It’s really impressive,”
she said of the art. “I still
have a hard time believing
that middle school students
did this.”
One of her students,
Rose Jurchic, an eight-grad-
er at Sandstone, said, al-
though drawing is not her
“cup of tea,” she enjoyed
the embroidered portrait
project. She said she spent
about a week sewing the
arm tattoos on her portrait
of Andrew Biersack, the
lead singer of Black Veil
Brides.
“You didn’t have to do
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“You could kind of do it
however. As long as you
did it, it was OK, and it
didn’t matter what it real-
ly turned out like. It’s just
your work of art.”
Sandstone eighth-grad-
er Baylee Hunsaker has
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display and said it was
“pretty cool” to show her
work to an audience out-
side of school. She said she
kept poking herself with
the needle during the em-
broidery project, but she
enjoyed creating a bright
“eye color candy” piece.
“I like doing art when I
have free time,” she said.
“I like the beginning pro-
cess of sketching out ev-
SEAN HART PHOTO
Sandstone Middle School
eighth-grader Baylee Hun-
saker stands in front of one
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with other students’ work at
the Hermiston Public Library.
Hansen, who came up with
the idea for the month-
long local artist displays,
said she hopes to continue
the student show in future
erything, like getting dif- create lesson plans togeth- jump on any opportunity years.
ferent ideas for it.”
er, and the different styles now to show, so we’re pret-
“I want this to encourage
7KH PRVW GLI¿FXOW SDUW that emerge from the same ty excited that they asked them to keep going with
of the art projects, she projects from the different us.”
their art and to let them
said, was making sure ev- schools are interesting.
Madeline Rotter, a sev- know there is public sup-
erything was done the best Finding places to show enth-grader from Armand port for it,” she said. “A lot
way.
the students’ best work has Larive, said she enjoys of people have come in to
Armand Larive art EHHQ GLI¿FXOW KH VDLG VR drawing, painting and look at it.”
Librarian Marie Baldo
teacher David Larson said the library was a perfect sketching and was happy to
student effort resulted in opportunity.
be able to show her work. said she loves the student
the “impressive” display.
“It’s much greater ex- She spent three weeks on a display.
“I was amazed when
“They learn it through posure because it’s a really drawing of a lion’s eyes on
they put them up,” she said.
hard work,” he said. “A public place other than the display at the library.
lot of them don’t think schools,” he said. “We used
“It was kind of fun, and “I remember being in mid-
of themselves as artists, to have an annual school it was a little bit hard,” dle school and doing art
I don’t think, but they re- district art show at the high VKH VDLG ³:H KDG WR ¿QG projects, and it was nothing
alize, after they do work school, K-12, and that was a picture online of a face like this. Jodi’s idea of art
hard, they can see that they huge, but that kind of got and had to draw an out- each month has been really
are very capable.”
taken away from us about line. I like how it turned successful, and this one has
been closest to all of our
Larson said he and Cim- ¿YH RU VL[ \HDUV DJR VR out.”
miyotti meet weekly and that was disheartening. We
Library assistant Jodi hearts.”
SEAN HART PHOTO
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Clara Brownell students learn what it is like to be an author
BY MAEGAN MURRAY
HERMISTON HERALD
Clara Brownell Middle
School
seventh-grader
Naomie Wyckoff hopes
to one day be a computer
programmer, but during
her down time, she also
wants to write books.
So when she and her
peers had the chance meet
with young adult author
Dale Bayse and then at-
tend the Cavalcade of Au-
thors conference Friday,
she was ecstatic.
“I got to ask (Bayse) a
lot of questions,” she said.
“It’s a fun experience to
find out how he became
an author and what all he
had to do.”
Bayse is the author
of a young adult series
called “Heck: Where the
Bad Kids Go.” The se-
ries, similar to that of
Dante’s “Inferno,” fol-
lows characters as they
make their way through
different layers of Heck,
rather than Hell, making
it more lighthearted and
child friendly. Each book
focuses on a particular sin
that the character com-
mits, such as lying or be-
ing greedy, which results
in them dying and dealing
with their life after death.
The tone of the books
isn’t so heavy as it may
sound, however.
Bayse told students
Thursday he tried to make
his characters’ deaths as
ridiculous as possible, so
they were still funny for
children, like when one
child dies in a marshmal-
low explosion.
“I tried to make them
all silly,” he told the stu-
dents with a laugh.
Many students were
interested in his cre-
ative process and how he
got started in the writ-
ing business. Bayse told
them he went to school
for journalism and film
making, and, before writ-
ing novels, he actually
reviewed movies for the
San Francisco Chronicle
in college before starting
his own newspaper busi-
ness with his wife and
then landing a job at the
Willamette Weekly.
Bayse said he has al-
ways enjoyed stories,
which was why being a
writer was a perfect fit.
His job in journalism,
however, didn’t pay well
enough for he and his
wife, which is when he
took a job at Nike. Shortly
after that, he began writ-
ing his children’s series.
Bayse said he has al-
ways been interested in
books and used to enjoy
reading science fiction
and comic books growing
up. Now that he writes
fiction for a living, how-
ever, he finds he doesn’t
like to read fiction as
much anymore.
“It’s weird,” he said.
“Now, I like to read biog-
raphies.”
Wyckoff said she could
relate to Bayse in that
she, too, is interested in
stories, but also wants to
pursue another career. She
is currently on the robot-
ics team at CBMS, which
has spurred her interest in
programming. She asked
Bayse if it was possible to
do that and write, and his
response made Wyckoff
MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO
MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO
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Brownell Middle School students about how he became an
author Thursday afternoon.
smile.
“Absolutely, you can
do both,” he said. “I have
a friend who has started
in that. She’s 50 years
old, but she wanted to
take classes in program-
ming. She loves it.”
Seventh-grader Andrea
Hernandez said she en-
used meeting Bayse as an
opportunity to gain per-
spective on what being an
author is like.
“You get to see what
his process is,” she said.
“Since meeting him, I
have more knowledge on
how it all works. When
you get to meet an author,
joyed asking Bayse ques-
tions because she also
wants to become a writer.
“I’m actually writing a
story at home,” she said.
“He was helpful in trying
to come up with ideas.”
Sixth-grader
Nata-
ly Vazquez said she also
wants to be a writer and
you get a whole new per-
spective.”
Seventh-grader Darian
Smith said he just enjoyed
being able to meet and in-
teract with an author.
“It’s cool spending
time down here with
him,” he said. “I think it
is fun.”
AUGUST 11-15, 2015
Tues. Aug. 11 • 9pm
DUSTIN LYNCH
Wed. Aug. 12 • 9pm
JOHN MICHAEL
MONTGOMERY
LATINO NIGHT:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13
Fri. Aug. 14 • 9pm
Sat. Aug. 15 • 9pm
HINDER
WARRANT
In the Watering Hole: LIVE MUSIC:
Tues & Wed - Brady Goss; Fri & Sat - Blue Tattoo
RESERVED TICKETS GO ON SALE AT 8AM,
MONDAY MARCH 16TH
Reserve Concert Seating: $12
(does not include fair admission)
Call or stop by the Fair office
515 W. Orchard, Hermiston
800-700-FAIR (3247)
www.umatillacounty.net/fair
Visa & Mastercard gladly accepted
650 W. Main St
John Day
541-575-0264
1-888-575-0264
Fax 51-575-2538
162 W. Front
Prairie City
541-820-4601
541-820-4725
2036 Broadway
Baker City
541-523-5535
1-888-677-5581
Fax 541-523-3471
301 S. Main St.
Pendleton
541-278-6800
Fax 541-523-3471
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Hermiston
541-564-0264
Fax 541-564-0262
9