(Posted April 24, 2015)
By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor
The arts are alive and well at Norwood Elementary in West Jefferson.
After two years without an art program due to budget cuts, the school and its new art teacher are making up for lost time. On April 30, Norwood Night of the Arts will celebrate all the students have learned and created this year. The public is invited to attend. The free event runs from 5 to 7 p.m.
“It will feature not only the visual component, but also music and poetry,” said art teacher Thomas Ruane.
Artwork by students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade will be displayed in the hallways, gym, cafeteria and art room. First-graders will recite poetry in a 10-minute poetry jam set for 5:35 p.m. Students at all grade levels will give 10-minute demonstrations of what they have learned in music class.
The public will have opportunities to create art at the event. Ruane has devised three group projects that will become art pieces permanently displayed at the school. One project will imitate stained glass using permanent marker, laminate sheets and black puffy paint. Another will result in large mosaic flowerpots for the front of the school. The third is a mural in collage form using recycled wrappers and papers for a Roughrider image and broken toys and game pieces for the frame.
Ruane said he hopes to build on this format for future Night of the Art events. This is the Ohio native’s 13th year teaching art. His career started in Minster, Ohio, after which he taught in Charlotte, N.C., and most recently in Orlando, Fla. He joined the Norwood staff this fall.
“I see art as one of those core things that connects all other subject areas,” Ruane said of the importance of including art instruction in schools. “Students take everything they learned and use creative thinking skills to take it to the next level.”
Norwood Elementary is located at 899 Norwood Drive, West Jefferson. Call Ruane at (614) 879-7642, ext. 4131, for details.
