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| Fishing for national recognition |
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| A piece of art, created by the children of the Prineville Boys and Girls Club, will be judged in an upcoming national exhibit |
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 | | KIRK JORDAN/CENTRAL OREGONIAN | | Prineville Boys and Girls Club member Elizabeth Duhn stands next to the fish wall hanging that she and approximately 20 more youth helped design. The piece has won first place in the central Oregon and West Coast Boys and Girls Club Fine Art Exhibit. |
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By Kate Wennerstrom
Imagine a child whose artwork has been entered to compete in a national exhibit. The excitement is overflowing for approximately 20 Prineville Boys and Girls Club youth as their group art project travels to Atlanta, Ga., to be judged among the best of the best.
"About a year ago, our Van Go program instructor had the kids do papier-mƒch‚ fish on shoe box tops," said Carol Parker, executive director of the local club. "They're kind of three-dimensional. The kids designed, papier-mƒch‚ and painted their own fish. The instructor then hung them altogether into a larger display."
The display has certainly received attention in the past year, starting with an exhibit at the Crook County Library. From there, a photograph of the artwork has been sent to compete in regional Boys and Girls Club Fine Art Exhibits.
"Every year we participate in the exhibit and one of the categories is a group project," Parker continued. "We entered that piece in the group project on the local level. It was the only group project that we had. So, it went on to the Central Oregon Boys and Girls Club Fine Art Exhibit and it won first place there."
From there, the photograph of the papier-mƒch‚ fish wall hanging was sent to the West Coast exhibit in Laguna Beach, Calif.
"It won first place in the West Coast show and so now it's going onto the national exhibit which is in Atlanta, Ga.," Parker said. "As far as I know, it's the first time any piece of art from central Oregon has made it that far."
The youth are energized by the regional wins; however, the staff is absolutely full of delight for the children's effort and success.
"We're pretty excited. It's very cool. We're very proud of them," Parker continued. "It's just a really cool piece of art. We've even had people offer to buy it."
While the Prineville Boys and Girls Club youth spend only an hour every other week with the Van Go instructor, it's not about the quantity of time, but the quality.
"At this point she comes every other week for two hours," Parker said. "She has two groups where 20 kids spend one hour with her. They love it. They do something different all the time. They've made masks. They've done papier-mƒch‚ stuff. They've done self portraits. They've done landscapes. They've done all sorts of fun stuff."
The Van Go Program is operated by the Central Oregon Arts Council of Bend. A professional art educator travels around central Oregon to organizations and schools. While the local Boys and Girls Club can only afford to help out with a little of Van Go's expenses for supplies, equipment and travel costs, watching the pride in the children's eyes, for Parker, makes it all worthwhile. |
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