Cherry Valley showcases student art
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POLSON — Max, the main character in Maurice Sendak’s classic “Where the Wild Things Are,”
would been right at home at Cherry Valley Elementary School on April 25.
A life-size cut out of Max and a wild thing was available for photos in the gym. Twisted vines as big as a toddler’s arm, a wild thing and a moon adorned the wall by the library.
It was Cherry Valley’s annual Night of the Arts, and the school was honoring author Maurice Sendak, who passed away this year.
The school’s walls were a gallery for art works showing the connection between literacy and art, according to Cherry Valley Principal Elaine Meeks. Each student in the school self-selected an art piece to display in the Lady Bug Gallery, too.
Caitlynn Sanford searched the gallery for her piece of art, then raced towards it, calling to her mom and younger sister.
Other children worked in creation zones around the school, crafting trees, drawing and personalizing wild things with tufts of hair, googly eyes and colorful costumes and envisioning crowns in Max’s crown room.
The trees made a Wild Rumpus Forest in the gym and provided a home for all the wild things.
Children weren’t the only artists at Cherry Valley. Multi-medium artist Merle Big Bow tucked his easel in a corner near a faux Jackson Pollock canvas and worked on a painting of a hummingbird and fuschia. Beaders worked in the faculty room, and Tony Grant played a guessing game with children.
As young artists drew and created, they talked about “Where the Wild Things Are.”
Indy Moll, wearing his crown, said he liked when Max went into a room and it transformed into a forest.
Busy fashioning a three-eyed wild thing, first grader Tucker Johnson liked the part when Max missed his mom.
Sage’s favorite part was when Max sailed away.
At the end of the show, the crowd sailed away, many wearing their jeweled and glittery Max crowns.
