A picture is worth a thousand words – sometimes more, sometimes less. But a picture is always worth “words.”

That is what the students who participated in the 3D art exhibit at the Johnson Center for the Arts learned and what they will long remember.

LaToya Gay, English teacher at Banks Middle School, said the opportunity to participate in the 3D art project at the Johnson Center was an outstanding learning project for her students.

“At Banks, we don’t have an art teacher, so I take every opportunity to incorporate art into my classes. Art is authentic,” Gay said. “When the counselor told me about the art project, I knew I wanted my students to be involved. I connected the art project with literature. The students created 3D art pieces and wrote stories about their pieces.”

Some students created shoebox scenes based on short stories they had read while others created art from “found” objects.

“Our eighth-grade students visited the Johnson Center to see the Charlie Lucas folk art exhibit,” Gay said. “As a follow-up activity, two Troy University students came to the class and showed the students ways to create art using found objects. I asked the students to write stories explaining their art.”

Gay said the students were excited about their art projects, which gave them an opportunity to use their imaginations and develop their writing skills.

Fifteen 3D art projects were selected for display at the Johnson Center as a complement to the Artists of Pike County 3D Fine Arts exhibition, which is a part of the arts center “Roots” series.

“This is the first time that we’ve had ‘emerging’ artists exhibitions in conjunction with featured exhibitions,” said Wiley White, arts center development coordinator. “Students from Banks, Charles Henderson High School and Pike County High School participated. It is exciting to have the work of young artists exhibited and we are looking forward to featuring emerging artists along with other ‘Roots’ exhibits.”

 

SAD

Chelsey Zellers

The title of my piece is “Sad.” If you look at the background there are squares. The ones with clothes on them spell the word “sad.” The wire that outlines the square represents that the children will never forget what happened. That it is trapped in their memory forever.

The faces represent my cousins. The wire in the middle represents the things why they got taken away. This art piece shows what happened to them and how they felt. They got taken away from their parents because of drugs and other things.

The children used to be real close. Then I came to school one day and there were no children.

I didn’t even know anything happened until three weeks later. I never got to see them again, face to face.

I talk to the oldest girl every blue moon.

There were three children involved in this. I cry sometimes because I think they will forget me and their family and move on to their fake family.

The tears on one face represent the tear they had when they lived with their real family.

That is why I thought of this art piece and because it means so much to me.

The time that we did see them my family had no idea what was happening to them until one day the oldest girl told someone about it.

There is one thing I wish I could tell them that none of this that happened was their fault.

This also tells you that you should never judge or pick on someone because you never know what they are going through.

Most important of all at least I know that they are in a better place now.

 

STORMING PAIN

Courtney Calhoun

 

The dark, stormy clouds rolled in leaving the city dark.

All of a sudden, a tornado strikes. People run for shelter, screaming.

The tornado shatters windows and destroys houses. Children were terrified when lightning struck.

When the tornado passes by, all you can see is debris and fallen trees.

People cry out for their loved ones that didn’t make it through the tornado. People’s homes are destroyed.

You can hear a newborn crying in the distance. Everyone is heartbroken.

 

THE TORNADO

Bailey Garrett

 

My artwork is about a lady and a storm.

The lady was a seamstress. A storm came by and tore down her house. It killed the old lady.

The material and the string represent what was left behind of her sewing materials.

The plastic pieces represent broken windows.

The busted place in the cardboard represents how the house got torn down.

The sticks represent trees and the aluminum foil and bottle caps represent some things that were left behind.

Over time, spiders and mice and other critters have come to the house and started nesting and living there.