April 1, 2024 - April 30, 2024

This April, like many before, the Blue Hill Public Library will host Student Art Month, always a favorite with the local community. Schools and homeschoolers from the entire Blue Hill Peninsula have been invited to share their artwork with the goal of showcasing the talent and creativity of local young people as expressed in watercolors, pen and ink, ceramics, sculpture, photography, collages, yarn, and woven items, and much more. Walls and counters all over the library will come alive with the inspiration, creativity, and talent of these students.

Artists range from pre-k to 12^th grade. All elementary and high schools on the Blue Hill Peninsula are welcome. High schoolers who participated in the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Mentor Program will also have works on display. This mentor program gives students opportunities to work with artists and makers in their own communities.

George Stevens Academy photography teacher Lee Park shared his philosophy: “I do not believe in teaching how to just “take” pleasant or pretty pictures; rather, my principal focus is on learning to passionately “make” photographs that communicate. Feelings. Emotions. Opinions. Ideas. I have precisely the same goal in imaging as do writers, poets, or speakers – we just use different tools.”

Sashari Mendoza, an eighth grader from the Brooklin School, remarked to her teacher Hilary Tobin about the upcoming show: “It is good to have an art show because I like my artwork and I want to show it off.” Her classmate Farrah Young’s take: “It is cool to have everyone’s art from all the area schools in the art show. The art show is a way to gain different ideas from other people.”

As Sedgwick art teacher Sarah Doremus says, “Seeing a child recognize their creation in a public setting and beam with pride is priceless.  Each year this show gives hundreds of young artists that chance.”

The show will be available for viewing anytime during library hours starting April 1. For more information, email claire.malina@bhpl.net or call the library at 374-5515.