Art Spot Offers College Scholarship for 2015-16

It’s not easy bringing the fine arts to people’s attention in such a physically active community. Our sports teams are among the finest in the state of Montana. Their recognition is well deserved and competition is fierce. Speech and Drama Club are extremely important as our students learn to inter-act with and negotiate with other people in and out of our community. And the music programs and outside performing arts are key ingredients for entertainment and learning in our community.

But I found out something sad the other day. In talking to our fine arts teacher at the high school, there is no recognition for the fine arts students in the way of awards or targeted arts scholarships. There is also no recognition for the industrial arts students.

The music students get recognition at the District and State Festivals. The creative writing students work for recognition through the Speech and Drama Clubs. And our Phillips County newspaper is splendidly full of sports recognition and the details of the sports challenges faced throughout the year.

Most of the time, I’ve seen visual artists recognized in the newspaper when they are contributing their artwork for donation purposes which is a huge gift of time and talent. Todd Mandeville has received fantastic recognition for his award winning pieces.

In the past, Phillips County has had a fine arts council. The children and adults of Phillips County participate in the Fort Peck Summer Theatre series to gain knowledge about acting and to have fun. Shake-speare in the Park was brought to us by the Northeastern Arts Network and the Little Rockies – non-profit groups who have provided performing arts entertainment for a number of years. The Phillips County Museum maintains an art display in their gift shop of local artist, Judy Michael. Todd Mande-ville started and continues his fine arts career painting in oils right here in Phillips County. The Bohn’s Bones Art Gallery has had a 3 year history of bringing together the visual fine artists in Phillips County to display their work as well as contracted with artists from other parts of Montana for fine arts dis-plays.

The Art Spot is new in town. And the arts education center has been advertising frequently to provide information about the visual fine arts and performing arts programs it currently has in place in order to attract those individuals who are willing to step forward and be creative. If you’ve ever been here during one of our monthly workshop sessions, you’ll see us manipulating acrylic paint into images reflective of the more known artists like Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, and Mary Cassatt using paint brush-es or, in a more recent session, with forks, knives and spoons. Our other favorite medium is polymer clay, but we’ve been known to daringly take forays into pastel, charcoal and water color.

The Art Spot’s main goal is to provide education in the arts to all levels of skill – beginner through professional. A good professional never stops educating themselves in their craft. The Art Spot goals for 2015-2016 include helping the community understand the major effort that goes in to being creative, besides being a lot of fun! The contribution to education through the creation of a fine arts piece is limitless. There is knowledge needed of composition, colors, the content of the medium used, the steps needed in order to create quality artwork. As most people will acknowledge, there are people who are gifted, but the rest of us have to work harder. Creating an art project also teaches you in many ways how to work smarter. There is math calculation involved and scientific knowledge needed in order to make sure you are building a good quality piece of artwork.

After learning that the recognition for the arts is needed, the Art Spot is announcing a 2016 scholarship award of $500 that will be given at the end of the 2015-2016 school year to a student who has shown energy, self-motivation and unusual creativity in the fine arts and industrial arts arena. Once our music and dance programs come to fruition, we will also offer scholarships in those areas.

The scholarship awards will be coordinated with input from the school guidance offices and the arts teachers to make sure that we have as much information on the applicants as possible to make the most informed decision of award.

Currently, the Art Spot is running a raffle and a membership program which will allow us to award these funds. Stop in to the Bohn’s Bones Art Gallery, visit the GN or Westside Self Service or see the Phillips County Museum Gift Shop staff to purchase a raffle ticket for $25. The Raffle prizes will be awarded on August 2, 2015 at the Phillips County Fair at the Art Spot Booth. If you have any questions at all about the Art spot programs and projects, please contact Kathy Bagley at 654-1523.