Youth art impresses all

Churchill County introduced its first Youth Art Show Wednesday night at the administration building for family and friends to see what the youth accomplished.

Julie Guerrero, Celebrate Us coordinator, said the show displays art from the students of Kristen Wilson’s fourth-grade class from E. C. Best Elementary School.

Guerrero said the Celebrate Us project was started more than two years ago to help promote and recognize talent in our community by displaying local artwork on the walls throughout the county administration building. She said in September, the county hosted its first ever Celebrate Us open house.

“During the open house, we were excited to display illustrations from a book called ‘The State that made a Nation Great’ by teacher Linda Rasmussen of Numa Elementary and artwork from 16 different elementary students,” Guerrero said.

She said she was excited when the opportunity presented itself to bring art back into the classroom. Guerrero said the main reason for the project was to teach children about art and the different ways you could express yourself using art and she said that’s what they accomplished with the students.

As the county strives to continue reaching out to the community, Guerrero invited local artists and Marie Nygren, a retired art teacher with the Churchill County School District to work with an elementary class on instructing and assisting students with a special art project. She said Nygren volunteered her time to work with Wilson’s fourth-grade class on watercolor painting techniques, such as composition, color and texture.

“Art is life … that’s my motto,” Nygren said. “You can find art in everything that you do and the choices you make. Starting off working with the students they did struggle but over time they grew in confidence and developed positive attitudes and believed in themselves. They were so proud of themselves when they saw their finished products. I hope this was a stepping stone for them and they continue to create and use their talent in the future.”

Guerrero said the class named the project “Nevada Mountain Splendor”.

“The students are very proud of their accomplishments, and it will be a rewarding experience for them to share with their families and community and see their artwork displayed in a public building,” Guerrero said.

Wilson said a lot of her students have never been exposed to art and they were expecting something easy. She said the students were present with a challenge and they rose to the occasion with learning the different methods, styles, and material.

“The students realized that it was difficult but worth the hard work in the end,” Wilson said. “They gained a lot of pride from the work that they did. It turned into more than just an art project because they learned about Nevada and wrote a haiku to go along with their artwork.”

Churchill County Commissioner Carl Erquiaga told the teachers and students that he was very impressed with their work. He presented Nygren and Wilson with plaques thanking them for their work with the students.