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 On Monday morning Karen and Danielle were
literally up to their elbows in art submitted by more than 700
students from schools throughout the county. Klockenga-Burgrabe
explained that in the three lower levels of elementary school, in
Logan County there are approximately 850 students. The level of
participation, with more than 700 involved, was a great surprise and
considered a big success.
Klockenga-Burgabe said that success had to be
contributed not to her, but to the school administrators, home room
teachers, and art teachers. She said those staff at the schools had
been enthused about the project and very supportive in encouraging
the children to create works of art for the fair.
Klockenga-Burgabe said in addition, the children seemed to be quite
enthused as well. She noted that on Monday morning, some of the kids
had already stopped by to see their works of art on display. She
said she had assured them all that before the end of the day, all
the great works of art would be up where that everyone coming into
the fine arts barn would be able to admire them.
Klockenga-Burgabe said that in addition to the schools being
excited, there were members of the community who were also ready and
willing to help out. She noted that each piece of work is mounted on
a nice piece of cardboard. She said those pieces were pre-cut to
size and donated by heritage packaging in Lincoln.
Cliff at Fifth Street Food Mart in Lincoln had given monetary
support that would allow for a large banner for the show as well as
ribbons for the kids. Elaine Awe of Culver’s Restaurant in Lincoln
donated free ice cream treats to every child that participated.
Also, this will be a judged show. The winners will have their
artwork displayed after the fair at Culver’s. Winners will also
receive a gift from Rustic Love Rentals, a business owned and
operated by Klockenga-Burgabe.
Klockenga-Burgabe is delighted with how this first year project
went, and is looking forward to future years. She explained that
while this year entries were limited to the first three grade
levels, in 2019 third-graders will be added. In 2020 fourth-graders
will be added and in 2021 fifth-graders will be permitted to enter.
She said that this will end with fifth grade though because
according to fair rules for fine arts, entries submitted by young
people fifth grade and up have to be placed on a proper matting.
Klockenga-Burgabe said the nice thing about that, is that the kids
participating this year will have the opportunity to continue
participation for the next two to four years.
For Fair Board Secretary Mike Maske, this new display is a really
good thing. He explained last week that he was really excited to see
this new project, and was also excited that the fair board needed to
build new display areas in the fine arts barn to accommodate all the
entries.
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 For the kids, this is also a good thing. Having
their works on display for the public to admire helps them
appreciate the value of art and motivates them to continue
exercising their artistic side.
There is also a hope and expectation that the display will increase
traffic into the fine arts barn. Parent, grandparents, other
relatives and friends, may all wish to see their child’s work on
display, bringing them into the barn, where they will have a chance
to see other really good works of art.
 The
display is called Making Memories County Youth Art Program. There
are basically two medium involved in the artwork. Klockenga-Burgabe
said children were encouraged to choose either pencil or crayon for
their masterpieces. However, some chose to use both medium and some
added extra touches like coloring or detailing with marker. For
Klockenga-Burgabe it’s all good. She said the judges may need to
choose which category they want to judge a piece in, but regardless,
every kid is going to be a big winner.
On Thursday evening Karen and Danielle were still
hard at work getting all the artwork on display. The special A-frame
racks provided were filling up, and art was being placed on the west
wall of the barn. Stacks of pictures were still awaiting placement,
but Klockenga-Burgabe was certain that by the time she and her
daughter leave for the evening everything will be as it should be.
We encourage everyone, regardless of whether or not you have a child
participating to stop in and admire the work of these very young
kids.
[Nila Smith with photos by Nila Smith & Jan Youngquist] |
