YOUNG PAINTERS IN ELKMONT

Paige Cooper and some of her fellow classmates at Elkmont High School are painting landscapes like they were born to it.

With $4,000 worth of grants and donations from the Dekko Foundation, Walmart and state Rep. Dan Williams, R-Athens, Elkmont Bookeeper Rhonda Hall was able to hire an expert painting instructor to teach landscape techniques to about 60 students in grades seventh through 12th.  William McDonald of Tupelo. Miss. taught about 30 students on two different days at the school using the Bob Ross method. Ross, who died in 1995, was a painter, art instructor and creator and host of “The Joy of Painting,” a television program that ran 12 years on PBS stations.

Like most of the students who attended the workshop, Cooper enjoyed the process and was amazed at the skills she learned.

“I liked that it was so easy and you did not have to have an art background to do it. He showed us how to do it and then helped us.”

Sparking interest was one of the goals of the project.

Cooper had painted some small projects before but nothing like what the class tackled.

“I did a forest scene with a waterfall into river,” she said. “I’m going to give it to my grandparents.”

This is the third year Hall has organized and secured the money and organized the painting workshops at the school.

“Last year one boy who liked to draw but had never painted before and he just took it and ran,” she said. “He has painted 40 or 50 paintings now, and his parents were able to send him to art classes. He thinks he may want to pursue a career in teaching.”

The project may not produce a future Van Gogh or Mary Cassatt, but it does teach students to try the unknown and to exercise their creativity, qualities that will be valuable throughout their lives.
source: Jean Cole, Athens News Courier