The Artist In Residence

Each year our local elementary school has a volunteer artist-in-residence come to the school and work with the children, usually the 4th graders. It could be a writer, a poet, a storyteller, a sculptor, well, you get the picture. This year it was a world renowned artist, Jon Brooks. I have blipped his work from a museum and he just happens to live in our little town. At any rate, the children began their project by going into the woods and selecting saplings. Then they stripped them of their bark, sanded and drilled holes to make them into the "people and creatures" they would create. Some were all one piece, others had been carefully pieced together. Then they were painted and given their unique personalities. Tonight the gym was filled with them - about 100 4th graders showing off their creation. It was wonderful to see each artists vision of what the sapling could be.

More photos here. and the artist here