VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – There are currently 36 works of art by Valley City Public School elementary students on display at the Mercy Gallery located on the first floor of CHI Mercy Health; the works of art will be up for the summer months.
These two works were award winning pieces in the 2018 North Dakota Governor’s Show at the Taube Museum in Minot, ND. The first is a printmaking and crayon piece titled, “The Three Little Pigs” by then third grader, Chesney Thomsen. The piece was created using Styrofoam plates, cardboard, yarn, paint and crayon and was created for the Kindergarten music production of the “Three Piggy Opera”. “The award Chesney won was the People’s Choice Award, meaning there were several chosen as winners but were then placed into a voting competition to see who the real winner was…and it was Chesney’s” states Cheri Anderson, the VCPS elementary art teacher.
The second piece of artwork is a multi-layered colored pencil drawing of the rooster, Heihei, from the Disney movie, Moana, created by then third grader Collin Compson. Collin titled his work, “On Deck” as Heihei is standing on the deck of the ship. This piece took many weeks of drawing and then layering various colors of colored pencil to achieve the beautiful look that this work has. “Keep in mind third graders are only 8-9 years old; it truly is amazing” continues Anderson.
Both Chesney and Collins works were entered when they were in the fourth grade as the Governor’s show had already taken place prior to them creating them in third grade.
Other works of art on display is a Polar Bear done in printmaking style using a marshmallow; there are watercolor works using salt and painted cut paper, large multi-layered sunflower works using crayon resist, a wide variety of Holiday art as well as Valentine art, and a section dedicated to Veteran’s Day.
Students have work in various styles of artists that they learned about as well. You will also have the opportunity to view a copy of the Eagle’s Poster Contest National Second Place Winner’s work, Jace Larson and a copy of Zack Anderson’s Junior Duck Stamp Contest Honorable Mention Winner.
The show is the largest the elementary has had on display at CHI Mercy Hospital.
The K-6 Art Instructor for VCPS is Cheri Anderson of Valley City. Anderson is a former Hi-Liner herself. She taught Art and Technology for 36 years at Maple Valley and this is her third-year teaching in Valley City. She, along with her husband, Rick, VCPS Maintenance Director, have two adult daughters, Lyndi (Shane) Brorson, Gardner, ND; Loni (Luke) Trapp, Valley City and two grandchildren that she has the privilege of teaching; Emma (6) and Simon (8) both attend Jefferson Elementary.
