Hawley Students Present Their Favorites In Gallery 2007

By Shannon Hicks

For two hours on Wednesday, May 2, the students of Hawley School eagerly returned to their school, parents in tow, to show off some of their favorite creations of the current school year. Wednesday evening was the opening reception for “Gallery 2007,” the presentation of works of art by the five grades at the elementary school on Church Hill Road. As parents and siblings entered the main entrance of the school, they were greeted by young students handing out programs for the evening and the colors and styles of student work in many media.

While Wednesday’s presentation was a special two-hour event, the art will remain on view until the end of May. The art had been hung in most hallways, in the school’s Library Media Center, the art room, and even — in the case of the collection of “Colorful Buzzing Bees” by first graders — from the ceiling in the school lobby.

According to some of the notes in the exhibition catalogs, each student in grades 1-3 was asked to select the piece of artwork that they felt represented his or her best work. These works were easily identifiable by printed labels with the artist’s photo found throughout the show.

The fourth grade students were given a little more space than their younger counterparts for art. “As they are celebrating their last art show at Hawley School ... most (if not all) of their artwork is on display,” wrote Hawley School art teacher Vicki Sheskin in her exhibition catalog note.

Even the kindergarten students, who do not yet visit the art room at Hawley School, do spend plenty of time working on their art skills with their classroom teachers during the course of the year so their work was included in this annual show. Each kindergartener was invited to submit a piece of art for “Gallery 2007.”