• Congratulations to our Bob Wand Memorial Purchase award winner for the 2007-08 school year. Shannon Gray, former 6th grade student from Hillcrest Elementary School, created her painting in an Amate’ style from the Aztec culture. Creating paper from the porous fiber taken from the bark of the Amate’ tree, many examples of this creative process can still be seen today. Shannon’s bright and bold design features elaborate detail and craftsmanship. The framed display is hanging at the entrance to the board room at the District Services Center where it will remain for the current school year. This year’s winner will be selected in the spring, and we look forward to hundreds of entries in this contest that has become an annual favorite.
• Don’t forget that the deadline for Holiday Cards is fast approaching! The deadline for the State Department of Education’s Holiday Card contest is October 26. The Boise School District’s Winter Card contest is due at the Art Cottage on Friday, November 2. The winning card designer will receive printed copies of the card that the district sends to employees and friends of the Boise School District. The top 100 winning entries will be on display at the District Services Center throughout the month of December. Call the Art Cottage (854-6715) to find out more about this one!
• Vincent van Gogh will be coming to the stage at the Borah High School auditorium the week of November 13-16th. Two performances per day are scheduled to entertain and educate audiences from schools all over the city. Scott Shepherd, artist and actor from Chicago, Illinois, will present the amazing theatrical impersonation “Life Through the Eyes of Vincent van Gogh.” Classes are being scheduled now to attend this engaging and informative event. Student volunteers are brought to the stage to recreate paintings and art concepts as the story of the artist’s life unfolds. Transportation must be arranged through school principals; however, the performance itself is free. Art parents are encouraged to attend with the classes as well.
• Several schools from the Boise School District will be entering wreaths, garlands, and trees in St. Alphonsus Festival of Trees this year! The Art Cottage is donating wreaths to the first 20 teachers who would like their classes to participate in this worthy cause. Entries are due at the Festival on November 18. We will be posting a list of participating schools along with pictures of their festive entries!
• Several of Boise Schools’ students from secondary ceramics’ students to budding elementary ceramic artists will be making hand-crafted bowls for the Idaho Foodbank’s 10th annual Empty Bowls. Bowls are sold along with soup donated by downtown restaurants to help fight hunger in Idaho. Bowls are due at the Foodbank by November 16. Last year, this event raised more than $10,000 for the Foodbank, and we’re looking for even more success this year! We’re proud of our student artists who are using their talent to feed the hungry!
• Art Departments in all of our high schools have now been approved for AP Art Programs. We currently offer Advanced Placement Studio Design-Drawing, Studio Design 2-D and Studio Design 3-D courses. Those students interested in pursuing the rigors of a portfolio assessment can now begin the process of creating artwork for submission.
• The State Department of Education has now approved the curriculum pilot for “Geometry and Art.” This course was completed during the summer as Art and Math teachers convened to finalize the structure of this motivational course. Designed to teach Math through lessons in Art has been a long-awaited and requested venue. A resource has been developed that is mathematically rich in a collection of hands-on geometry projects incorporating lessons in art to motivate and encourage students with making practical applications in spatial reasoning.
• Plein Aire Painters will be providing an art scholarship for a 2008 high school senior who is intending to pursue a major in Art at a university for the 2008-2009 school year. This $500 scholarship is being given to a highly motivated and talented high school art student. Interested students will need to submit a portfolio and digital slide presentation along with letters of recommendation to the Plein Aire Scholarship Committee. Applications for this scholarship can be requested from the Art Cottage.
• Creative displays of artwork from each school in the district are rotated throughout the city in a variety of public venues. The locations are:
  Idaho State Department of Education, 2nd floor of the Len B. Jordan Building
  (6th & State St.)
  Capital Educators Federal Credit Union (corner of Franklin & Cole Rd)
  District Services Center 8169 W. Victory Rd.
  St. Luke’s Hospital (Children’s Emergency Wing)
  *Note: (Other sites upon request for special functions or activities)
• This year marks the 26th anniversary for Paint the Town. For more than a decade, art students from our district have created the T-shirt designs used in the promotion of this community-wide event. First, second and third prize winners are honored at a reception at Brown’s Gallery downtown with the winning entry being selected for the current T-shirt design.
• March is YOUTH ART MONTH and all area schools are encouraged to showcase some of their best art for this annual event. Art is a critical part of the education of the whole child and provides excellent training in developing fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. Students who are involved in the arts discover a myriad of strategies for creative problem solving. As world cultures are integrated into the course of study, students gain a better understanding of the world around them and diversity is celebrated.
• Grants for assisting projects and opportunities in the arts are available through the Idaho Commission on the Arts, Boise City Commission on the Arts and also through the Boise School District Foundation office.

Rock Art Images courtesy of JQ Jacobs