Hedges art docents keep 'utilitarian' from becoming 'boring'

Chairs - what's a home without them?

But artistic chairs - that elevates the discussion to a whole new level.

As the latest project in an innovative art program introduced at Hedges School in Kalispell this year, young students are learning that "boring" is not a prerequisite for "utilitarian."

A study of famous artists is helping them create unique solutions to mundane furniture, under the tutelage of local artists and Hedges moms interested in amping up the level of art awareness in the youngsters.

"The kids are really engaged in this," Hedges art docent Michelle Smith said. "They all want their chair."

Problem is, every student in a classroom cooperates to create a work of art with the group chair. And each one sets sights on it.

Smith is volunteering with the program to spend a few hours every week in Hedges classrooms, sharing the history and work of well-known artists.

Armed with that education, students now are painting, tacking fabric and adding flourishes to chairs to echo the style of the artist they studied.

Visitors strolling past the vacant store fronts at Kalispell Center Mall can get an idea of what's been done so far.

More are on the way and will stay on display there until just before April 14. That's when they will be sold to the highest bidders during an Arts and Auction night at the school, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Bidding closes at 7 p.m.

Before that night, from April 7 to 14, bids are being taken online at the Hedges School site: www.sd5.k12.mt.us/hdgs

Jon Kaps from the Flathead High School library is putting up the site.

Money raised will help continue the volunteer art docent program, which provides materials for the only art instruction children have at Hedges. Grants from Plum Creek and Wal-Mart help underwrite the program, but no school money goes into it.

On any given day in Hedges School for the next few weeks, chances are good that a visitor will see students meticulously at work on the brightly colored chairs.

Or they can survey a row of works in progress lined up along the central hallway outside the science lab. Excitement is building, and more are being added.

One day last week, Andrea Friedman was supervising Sue Harding's sixth-graders as they popped outside the classroom door in two's and three's to apply Campbell's soup labels to their Andy Warhol chair.

"I think the chair's looking really cool," Chloe Thornton said, as she shellacked her label to the chair seat.

The whole school collects soup labels to exchange for books, computer and sports equipment, art supplies and more through Campbell's Labels for Education program.

From them, Chloe's classmate Greg Dalerio chose a tomato soup label.

"I liked the medal," he explained, applying a layer of Mod Podge to glue his label to a front corner of the bright red chair.

The chair art, as with the entire art history docent program organized by artist and Hedges mom Dawn Duane Evans, has been a great learning experience.

Friedman, for example, is a former art history major who opted instead for her M.D. degree. With her children grown now, she was looking for a way to volunteer in the community. The art history docent program was a perfect fit.

Teaching art history was a breeze, she said. Then the projects were introduced.

"At first I was intimidated at the big project," Friedman confessed, "but it got easier."

For her part, Smith was "just a mom" whom first- and second-grade teacher Susie Ryan asked to help with the program.

"Dawn really got us fired up," Smith said.

Smith shepherded Kathy Manning's kindergartners through a chair in the style of cubist Piet Mondrian.

Each child chose one of the multi-shaped boxes that Smith had outlined on the chair, then painted it in bright blue, red, yellow, white or other color. Smith painted bold black lines between each, in Mondrian's style, then went back over them with tape to refine the sharp edges.

There are many more:

Smith also worked with Jean Paschke's fourth-graders to create a chair in the style of African-American historical artist Jacob Lawrence

Cindy Stone chose Paul Klee's signature style by hand-dying squares of fabric and appling them to a chair produced by Kate Shaw's sixth-graders.

There's a Henri Rousseau jungle scene complete with a fur-covered chair seat. There's a stunning Claude Monet impressionist chair by first-graders, and an Edgar Degas chair complete with ballerina skirt in the style of the painter known for his renderings of ballet dancers.

Nicole Hill and second-graders in Carla Mitchell's classroom painted a bright Vincent Van Gogh sunflower.

Gabriel Serrano, Wyatt McGillan and Olivia Serio remembered some of the more grisly details of Van Gogh's life - "he cut off half his ear and shot himself," "he was crazy," and "he bought paint instead of food."

But, as they surveyed their chair in progress, they recalled the 800 paintings he created and the fact that his favorite color was yellow - "he lived in a yellow house with another guy."

Hill said she enjoys art, but participates in the program for another reason.

"The challenge and the real gratification comes from them being able to do this themselves," she said. "Especially with the Faith Ringgold chair. I didn't have to retouch a thing."

The Ringgold work, created by JeNeil Devlin-Grade's first-graders, arguably is the most popular creation to date, Evans said.

It's a student desk and separate wooden chair, scaled for a child, with brightly-decorated squares bordering each and a child flying in the center. It picks up on the quilting and African-American themes for which Ringgold is known, and displays her motto around the chair's perimeter:

"If one can, anyone can, all you gotta do is try."

Her quilted works tell a story in picture and in words. On each, she uses a Sharpie marker to write a story around the border, encouraging children to reach beyond and fly above their circumstances.

The chair project reached beyond Hedges to Flathead High School senior John Doty. The former student of Ryan and a commercial art/illustration enthusiast, he agreed to her request to be involved.

He painted an Incredible Hulk chair and is doing a Salvador Dali chair with docent Lauren Weinhandle.

"My art education didn't start until seventh grade," Doty said. "For them to have this early art is the greatest part. The fact they're learning about it now, even though it's somewhat limited, is great."

Ryan agrees.

"It's kind of the icing on the cake with the chairs, the three-dimensional aspect. They get to see that after seeing everything flat" in the art history books, she said.

"It's very freeing for them because they get to work in small groups. And we get to learn what they know." Ryan said.

"We're just trying to give the kids a foundation, because art in its true form is a part of all of us."

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com