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“Kaleidoscope,” a community celebration spotlighting the talents of student musicians and artists, kicked off on the steps in front of the courthouse on Market Street in Denton on Friday, April 24, with more than 160 chorus students joining in song. The celebration was a collaboration of Caroline County Council of the Arts and Caroline County Public Schools. Following the courthouse performance, the crowd made its way down the street to The Foundry to continue the celebration with more live musical performances and the annual CCPS Art Exhibit.
Live performances continued with soloists, duets and small ensembles performing under a tent in back of The Foundry. Despite a short downpour, numerous family members and friends stayed for the exhibitions.
More than 300 people visited the student art exhibit hanging inside The Foundry gallery, according to George K. Karos II, CCCA executive director.
Students, parents, grandparents, other family members and friends excitedly explored the downstairs rooms looking for their featured works, with high school pieces in the front two rooms, middle school and elementary pieces in the middle room, and more elementary pieces in the back room, where a slide show of the art was also playing.
Ridgely Elementary fourth grader Caitlin Simmons-Jones and her grandmother Mary Russ, both of Hillsboro, found her colorful marker design at the bottom of a display in the middle room. Federalsburg Elementary third grader Raven Lee and her parents, Robert Malanoski and Tiffany Lee, found her pen and collage “Forest” over her head on another wall.
Brenlee Bruce of Preston, a senior at Colonel Richardson High, pointed out the scratchboard work she created in her AP Studio Art class in honor of her friend Cora, who recently died of cancer.
Payton Leroy of Denton, a sophomore at North Caroline High, and her parents, Susan and Scott, found her piece in the hallway between the two front rooms. She was excited, saying it was her first work using white charcoal.
Karos told Payton she should be proud of herself, that white charcoal was a difficult medium to work in.
Pieces for the show were selected by the art teachers from each school in the county, intended to highlight the best of the best, according to Kyleen Asche, gallery and program director. Many of the older students were already members of the National Art Honor Society, and some pieces displayed ribbons they had been awarded at the judged Student Art Showcase earlier this year at the Academy Art Museum in Easton.
High school works may be viewed at The Foundry through May 7; some will be removed May 8 to participate in another show, Asche said. The remaining exhibit will hang through the next week. The Foundry is open noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
