PORT TOWNSEND — The streets and shops of uptown and downtown Port Townsend are filled with unrestrained color as student artists’ work is exhibited in windows and on walls throughout the community’s historic district.
The annual Art Wave exhibit, which will be up until the end of the month, includes more than 400 pieces of art created by K-12 students in the Port Townsend School District. They range from self portraits to abstracts to representational works and are displayed in 36 locations including the post office and the Jefferson Museum of Art and History.
Art Wave is a program of PT Artscape, a way to support art in schools. This is the 20th year of the program.
PT Artscape consortium programs aim to integrate art into the classroom, help teachers enhance their curriculum through the arts, expand student access to and experience with the arts, and provide instruction and mentoring to artists who wish to teach their art.
Donation jars are available at select locations across town and all proceeds go directly to fund art education in the school district including the Teaching Artists Programs grants in Grant Elementary, Blue Heron Middle School and Port Townsend High School, and professional development for teaching artists and classroom teachers.
PT Artscape also supports Centrum’s Tales, Texts and Theater Program for the sixth grade as well as special projects and materials.
The Port Townsend School District is the lead agency for consortium activities which are funded through a grant from the Washington State Arts Commission.
________
Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Jeannie McMacken can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jmcmacken@peninsuladailynews.com.