By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com
GARNER – Andy Warhol convincingly wore a tussled shock of hair. John James Audubon posed with binoculars until someone pressed his button.
Clad in black, Georgia O’Keeffe sat in solitude on the far side of the gym with her cow skull. Norman Rockwell sat on a stool by his easel and blank canvas, sporting a tie, rolled-up sleeves and a pipe.
Students could imagine “Peter Rabbit” by listening to Beatrix Potter tell her story. Charlie Russell and Frederic Remington both greeted “visitors” with western wear and gear.
Through the efforts of seventh and eighth grade students the Garner ISD gymnasium became a metaphoric wax museum on Friday.
Junior high students didn’t actually make wax versions of well-known artists, but they learned about and personified 30 artists and presented themselves and “samples” of their work in a museum setting. Fellow Garner students and teachers then took tours through the museum. Out of construction paper, students made a walking path and buttons for each artist that stated “push here.”
Each student chose an artist for his or her own reason. The artists took a pose until the group pressed the button, which launched the artist into a monologue explaining who they were and what they painted, sculpted or photographed.
The Garner Junior High “Living Artists Wax Museum,” which celebrates Youth Art Month, included dioramas and dolls of artists made by the elementary grades as well.
Art teacher Sharon Buell facilitated the students’ wax museum. It included visits by local artists each week. Students even took a trip to Albany, Texas, to visit the Old Jail Art Museum. Buell added that they plan to take students to see the King Tut exhibition in Dallas.
Art has come alive at Garner in other ways.
Just last week Garner student Lindsay Taylor was informed that her artwork was one of 10 selected by Anita Perry to adorn the Capitol office walls of her husband, Gov. Rick Perry. Taylor must write an artist’s statement and will be invited to attend a Governor’s reception this summer.
Also, for the first time in many years, Garner competed in the University Interscholastic League’s One-Act Play competition. Last fall they presented Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” which energized students to want to do more.
“It created excitement and confidence,” said Garner Superintendent Marion Ferguson. “Our plan was to make sure they got out there and did the one-act play. What ended up is that they became more demanding to do something else.”
Ferguson said the staff told the students, “If you want to do this, you have to show why it’s important to you.” Already, he said, they have raised $300, so they added a production to the spring curriculum. On May 15, students will perform “Annie” for the public in the Weatherford College/Mineral Wells campus auditorium.
“This is the year to get fine arts across the curriculum,” said Ferguson.
