Fruit Street pupils win national art honors

BANGOR – Fruit Street School’s Taylor Simpson, a second-grade pupil, and Joseph Tuck, a first-grade pupil, were selected for inclusion in the Crayola Dream-makers Exhibit. They were awarded plaques for their artwork. Taylor is the daughter of Charles and Jennifer Simpson of Bangor and Joseph is the son of Dawn Ayer of Bangor.

“They were on top of the world,” said Fruit Street School art teacher Wendy Libby of Brewer. “[The contest] is such a nice way to build self-esteem.” The school, she said, held an assembly to honor Taylor and Joseph. The entire school and the children’s parents attended the ceremony.

The theme of this year’s contest was Weaving What We Are. From thousands of pieces of artwork received nationwide from pupils in kindergarten through sixth grade, 200 pieces were selected. Forty pieces were chosen from each of five different regions. The northeastern region covers Maine to Pennsylvania.

Each artist who has artwork chosen for the national exhibition is awarded a plaque featuring a photograph of the pupil’s work. The selection of artwork is based on visual appeal, originality, age appropriateness, craftsmanship and the pupil’s 10- to 30-word dream statement about the work.

The Weaving What We Are exhibit will be displayed at the Crayola factory discovery center in Easton, Pa., and at the Richard A. and Rissa W. Grossman Gallery at Lafayette College, also in Easton, Pa. Teachers wishing to obtain information about Crayola’s next contest, Dreaming Beyond the Book, may visit www.crayola.com.