Artwork on display

Parents and students from Seeliger, Fremont and Empire elementary schools met Thursday evening at Carson High School to view the entries in this year's Reflections contest.

"It's just to give the parents and other children the opportunity to view the artwork," said Teri Cantley, member of the Nevada State Reflections Committee. "Sometimes, they hear about the program but they don't know what it is."

The Reflections program is sponsored by the National Parent-Teacher Association and is designed to promote artistic achievement within the schools.

"One of the major things that gets cut from the budget is art," Cantley explained. "This program is to help children develop their artistic talent."

Over the last 20 years that the program has been in place, more than 10 million students nationwide have participated.

Each year, students are given a theme to follow. This year, the theme is "Anything is possible."

Alex Wing, a fourth-grader at Fremont Elementary, expanded his theme to "Anything is possible when stars are hanging above you."

He painted a watercolor portraying the back view of a boy looking up at the stars.

"I like doing art," Wing said. "It's one of my favorite things to do."

He said he learned how to draw a person from an art show on television.

"The guy said to draw people like a carrot," Wing said. "So I just drew a carrot."

Wing participated in the visual arts category of the contest. The other categories are literature, photography and music.

Every Carson City school is participating in the contest and selects the winners from each school.

The school winners will compete on the state level, and the winners at that level will be sent to compete nationally.

The state winners will be honored at a reception in April.