Students chair the arts

POLSON — Cherry Valley Elementary School students gaped as they looked at the finished products from their Art Docent program — painted chairs in the style of famous artists.

"It's just like this print, except the picture doesn't have a chair in it," said Haven Cenicila, 8. "I like how the chair feels. It's smooth."

The Art Docent program is in it's third year and it's second where the students combine with a docent to produce a chair available for auction at the completion of the class. Local artist Edna Lemm created the project not only to infuse art history into the curriculum, something the state doesn't pay for, but also to help children with their language skills.

"You have to engage the children in the classroom or some risk falling behind," said Lemm. "Some kids are shy or don't want to talk about typical classroom subjects. But I've seen students really come out of their shell and increase their level of involvement in class."

The docents are parents or community volunteers who each pick one famous artist and give a presentation on their history and work. A field trip to a local scenic area is included and the students how to use a variety of different mediums. The chairs provide a chance for students to replicate the artist they've concentrated on for the previous semester.

And they allow the program to continue the next year. The 2004 chair auction raised $4,113 for the Art Docent program, which used the money for supplies and salary. Lemm also produced a cookbook that melded recipes and art history that added to the Docent program coffers.

The chairs are delivered to area businesses on Jan. 21 for display until Jan. 28. The chairs then move back to Cherry Valley until Feb. 8, when the Night of the Arts represents the last day of the auction and a celebration of everyone's work. The chairs will be viewable online and available for bidding at www.polson.k12.mt.us/cherry starting Jan. 25 through Feb. 8.

"Last year was a frenzy," said Lemm. "We had to tear the bid sheets down at 7 p.m. because everyone wanted to keep going."

The highest bid last year was $325 for an Edgar Degas chair, and several other chairs neared that level. The chairs are functional, too — folks can take a seat and relax in them.

The Night of the Arts will feature dancers as well as musicians to go along with at least three pieces of art per classroom.

"Often times the kids know more about art history than the adults," said Lemm. "Now that we're in our third year of the program, you can really see the level of knowledge increase in the students. And the docents learn as much as the kids."

The students learn to talk about art in a sophisticated manner too, so that they recognize elements of design like space, shape, form, and value.

"Our chair was based on Picasso," said Sabrina Gambrel, 9. "He doesn't pay attention to the color of the faces, he just paints faces as he sees them. This was his cubist period."

The docents need not have a background in art, just a sincere interest in it. In fact, Lemm has faced more requests to volunteer than she has room for, and she's faced the same problem with businesses that want to display them.

"Stores feel slighted if they don't get a chair," said Lemm. "They bring in business and so they all want one."