Cyan Stiker shared her curious excitement of having her work displayed for the first time at the Rhinebeck Central School District Art Show. The 20th annual event will open on Friday, May 1, with a reception from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Starr Library in Rhinebeck.
The artwork will remain on display at the library through May 31.
“I’m so grateful,” said Stiker, a seventh grader. “I never thought of myself as an artist. I’m going to opening night. My art has been worthy to be in this and I want to celebrate it with my family. They are all very happy for me.”
Stiker painted on a plate a bird’s nest with eggs on a tree branch.
“Spring reminds me of new life and everything coming alive after winter,” she said.
Jones Cole, a seventh grader, likes visiting New England with his family and painted a New England scene on his plate with a lobster and sea items. Seventh grader Ellie Glover painted the sun shining on two hills with a river flowing between them on a plate.
“I love art,” said Glover, who loves painting. “It’s one of my favorite things in the entire world. It’s really cool to be in this show. I know it’s really fun.”
The art show will display artwork from students in kindergarten through 12th grade from the three district schools – Rhinebeck High School, Bulkeley Middle School and Chancellor Livingston Elementary School. There will be traditional and contemporary styles of work as well as 2-D and 3-D work, containing a variety of media used in their academic classes.
“It’s a breath of all of the different types of art that we cover throughout the K-to-12 curriculum at the Rhinebeck Central School District,” said Kathy Giles, high school art teacher. “It’s a real honor to be chosen to be a part of it.
“Everyone is coming together as a community to support the arts. It shows how vibrant of an art community it is here at Rhinebeck.”
Lucy Arnade is the leave replacement teacher for Fawn Johnson at the elementary school and is excited for her first art show in Rhinebeck. Arnade and Johnson worked together to select the artwork to represent the elementary school.
“All of the students are amazing with their creativity, testing out different things and making wonderful art,” said Arnade. “The students have been coming up to me, super excited that they’ve had their art selected. It’s definitely been really motivating for them.”
One of Shannon Harris’ students, sophomore Luna Palma Jimenez, created an owl for her studio in crafts project that is featured on the art show’s poster and will be displayed at the library.
“With this project, students learned a range of hand-sewing and embroidery stitches, applique, and how to sew on a button and beads,” said Harris. “They made their own pin cushions with the same materials as a practice and functional piece leading up to their final form.
“Subject matter choices ranged from animals, to food, to monsters or characters.”