Projects Created as Part of the Hardy Gallery’s Exposure to Creativity Program.
On Wednesday, February 24, two new homeowners that have benefited from Door County’s Habitat for Humanity Program will receive artwork created by Gibraltar High School students as part of the Exposure to Creativity (ETC) program. A special assembly is planned for that day at 10:45 am at the Door Community Auditorium in Fish Creek.
The presentation will include a brief introduction by Vinni Chomeau, the coordinator for Friends of Gibraltar (FOG), and Elizabeth Meissner-Gigstead, Executive Director of the Hardy Gallery, whose two organizations have collaborated on this project for the past three years. The idea to create artwork for Door County’s new Habitat for Humanity homes was conceived by program administrators as a way to tie-in FOG’s theme for the year, “Service Learning,” into the ETC workshops and activities. In addition to the ETC coordinators, director Rick Nelson from the Door County chapter of Habitat for Humanity will be on hand as well as the new homeowners.
In this year’s ETC workshops, the Gibraltar High School students created a wide breadth of artwork for the homes, including ceramic lamps, framed poetry and watercolor paintings, glass fusion window hangings, ceramic bowls, metal sculptures, and more. The artwork will be on display at the assembly, which the general public is invited to attend.
The ETC program consists of two components – hands-on, creative workshops in the arts that broaden the student’s horizons, and, for those students who choose, an in-depth mentor program in a specific art medium.
“Not only does the program benefit the students, who may not know these specific artistic mediums or opportunities exist,” says Elizabeth Meissner-Gigstead, “it also enables our professional arts community to share their expertise and passion with area students.”
The Exposure to Creativity Program is co-sponsored by the Hardy Gallery and the Friends of Gibraltar with additional financial and in-kind support from the Gibraltar High School, the Northern Door YMCA, and the Peninsula School of Art. The program is also sponsored in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board. For more information on the ETC program, please visit the Hardy’s website at www.thehardy.org or call 920.854.2210.
