Snoqualmie Valley School District shows off its artsy side
May 10, 2012
By Sebastian Moraga
Photos by Sebastian Moraga Makena Lau, of Fall City Elementary School, stands next to her drawing of pink and yellow flowers.
Where we see art, Bryce Meserve sees freedom.
“It’s uninhibited,” said Meserve, an art teacher at Mount Si High School. “They just want to create.”
They, in this case, are the elementary school students from the Snoqualmie Valley School District who presented their art during the district’s art show at the high school May 4.
Meserve marveled at how little difference existed in some cases between the elementary school students’ art and the older students’ art. But above all, he praised the youngest children’s creative freedom.
“They don’t really care what it’s going to end up looking like, and it often ends up looking good because of that,” he said.
High school and middle school students also presented art during the show. The older students tend to be more self conscious about their work, Meserve said.
“They don’t want to screw it up,” he said. “So they either stop drawing or painting, or they are really nervous and they don’t want to try new things with their art.”
During the show, parents marveled at the array of talent, and were even surprised by what they saw.
“I have never seen him do a human,” said Paige Dolecki, staring at a self-portrait of middle-schooler Spencer Dolecki, her son.
The art show displayed the district’s range of visual arts talent from kindergarten to 12th grade, said Ruth Huschle, a Snoqualmie Middle School art teacher and the show’s coordinator.
“A lot of the kids we showcase in this event aren’t kids that necessarily that get a lot of recognition in a lot of other places,” she said.
Students had received a postcard at home telling them they would represent their school at the show.
“It feels good,” said third-grader Makena Lau, who drew with crayons a landscape of pink and yellow flowers. “It feels good that other people can see my art and I can see what they think of it.”
Some didn’t even know about a postcard and instead found out through Huschle.
“A student called her mom and said, ‘Mom, guess what? My portrait got chosen to be in the art show.’ She was just thrilled,” Huschle said. “For some kids this is the thing that is their standout thing. They may not be super-strong athletes, but this is their really strong thing, so it’s a really special event.”
Children did not compete for spots in the show. Instead, teachers chose from works the students had done throughout the year. Lau’s flowers were at least a month old, for example.
“A competition changes the dynamics and it’s not really what this is about,” Huschle said. “It’s really about showing what we do in the district as far as the visual arts go.”
Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.
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Congratulations Sebastian . It is a very nice storie.