Lewiston Middle School students to show art

The popular annual art exhibit by students from Lewiston Middle School returns to the college Museum of Art next month. The exhibit will open with a reception at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, and run through March 21.

If past years are any indication, about 100 seventh- and eighth-graders will each show a piece of art in the exhibit. Media will include drawing and painting, masks, ceramics, mosaics, prints and sculpture. Some students may also show work, either animated pieces or drawings, created on laptop computers supplied through the Maine Learning Technology Initiative.

The benefits of this exhibit will go beyond providing the students with a venue for their work. It will also afford an inside view of museum procedures, explains Kate Cargile, one of the school’s two art teachers. “It’s a good experience for them to learn not only to make art, but ways that different people can participate in the art world,” Cargile says.

The annual exhibit is one aspect of an ongoing relationship between the middle school and the college. Bates’ Adopt-a-School Program is administered by the Center for Service-Learning, which engages students and faculty with community service in a variety of ways. Bates’ involvement has also supported the middle school library and provided a breakfast for students graduating to Lewiston High School, among other projects.

For more information about the museum, please call 207-786-6158.