Works of Art

Dana Herra - dherra@daily-chronicle.com Bethany Lexa, 7, a first-grader at Cortland Elementary School, explains the code hidden in her artwork to a family friend Tuesday evening at the DeKalb School District art show. The art show continues through Thursday.

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

As Breanna Jackowiak stood looking at her drawing of a snowman Tuesday, her pride in being selected for the DeKalb School District art show gave way a little bit to another emotion when she realized her work was on public display.

"It's kind of scary," the Malta Elementary School second-grader said.

Breanna's drawing is on display with works of art by students at every grade level and from every school in the DeKalb School District. For teachers, selecting the items to display from all the projects students have generated during the year is a labor of love, elementary art teacher Lisa Borden said.

"I teach at four schools, so I have over 1,000 students, and I only had eight (display) boards to fill," she said. "The kids get so excited to come and see their work."

It's a thrill for parents, too. Breanna's mother, Rhonda Jackowiak, said she didn't know much about the show until getting there. As she realized Breanna's work had some stiff competition to be there, she smiled.

"It's cool," she said. "I should have paid attention in art. I never did. I always liked the clay and doing the pottery, and the rest didn't interest me."

Art can be a difficult subject because some students excel and some don't excel but try hard, Borden said. When choosing projects for the show, she looks not only for talent but for craftsmanship, creative ideas and to put a variety of projects on display.

"Craftsmanship, making it look like you put a lot of work into it, I like that," she said. "Some pieces people might think, 'I don't know what that is,' but I'll choose it because it was such a cool, creative idea. That's what I love. There are no right or wrong answers. If the kids can take what they're learning and put in their own ideas, that's fabulous."

The art show is held every year, but in past years has always been in the high school library and lasted only one night, Borden said. This year's show at the Egyptian Theatre is three nights long, with the artists' reception and high school awards presentation Thursday night.

"It just got so crowded," Borden said. "This is perfect. It's so artsy in here, and there's so much room. I love it."

If You Go

The DeKalb School District 2009 art show continues tonight and Thursday from 5-8 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. 2nd St. in DeKalb. The free show features works of art from students in every grade and all schools in the district, selected by art teachers. Thursday evening will feature an artists' reception, and awards will be presented to high school students.

art show 01.jpg
Bethany Lexa, 7, a first-grader at Cortland Elementary School, explains the hidden code in her artwork to family friend Grace Mahler Tuesday evening at the DeKalb School District art show. The show continues at the Egyptian Theatre through Thursday.

art show 02.jpg
"Knight in Not So Shiny Armor," a sculpey clay sculpture by DeKalb High School 10th-grader Emily Lucek, is one of the many student works of art on display at the Egyptian Theatre in the DeKalb School District 2009 art show.