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| Photo: Rolando Chang Barrero |
SunSentinel:
LaBelle students find a creative spark in Boynton!
Boynton Beach's art district is helping kids from across the state develop their creative potential.
On Thursday, close to 50 students took a two-hour field trip from LaBelle to Boynton Beachto spark their artistic interest.
Fifth-grade students from Country Oak Elementary school explored sculptures on Boynton Beach's Ocean Avenue of the Arts, graffiti murals at the Boynton Beach Art District and kinetic art at the Neighborhood Gallery & Fine Art Appraisers.
LaBelle is a small town in Hendry County with a population of 4,000. The city doesn't have any public art, said Stella Luckey, fifth grade teacher at Country Oak Elementary, but she hopes her students will be the ones who can help change that.
Luckey was awarded a creative leadership grant from Crayola earlier this year. She heard about Boynton's International Kinetic Art Symposium, which was held in February, and she wanted to get her students involved somehow.
So with the $2,500 grant, she brought her students toBoynton Beach.
"In LaBelle, there's no public art, no galleries and the kids normally don't see things like this," she said. "The students have been in awe all day."
When the students get back to school they will work on producing kinetic art sculptures in class, which will be on display at the Hendry County court house.
Angela Taylor, a first grade teacher at Country Oak Elementary and the parent of one the students on the field trip, said the art opens people's minds to new possibilities.
"We have three red lights in our town," she said. "We're used to orange groves, banks and McDonalds'. It's dull there, but here it's very full of life."
Her son, Jesse Taylor, 11, enjoyed the kinetic art. He saw a 200-year-old whirligig — one of the first types of kinetic art, and a modern kinetic piece called 'Circles,' by Tom Brewitz, which was featured in the city's International Kinetic Art Symposium. He took pictures during the trip to create a class DVD.
"There's a lot creative things here," he said. "It's really good."
Rick Beau Lieu of the Neighborhood Gallery & Fine Art Appraisers said he hopes that the artwork inspires a next generation of artists.
"There may be one or two who are inspired to be great," he said. "They just need to see something that will move their creative juices."
While Beau Lieu's gallery has been on West Industrial Avenue since 1986, in the past few years, it has gained recognition as part of the growing Boynton Beach Art District under Rolando Chang Barrero's direction.
Public Art Administrator Debby Coles-Dobay isn't surprised though.
"This is exactly what we wanted," she said. "We wanted our arts district to become well known and have a very solid Art in Public Places program."
aanthony@sunsentinel.com or 561-243-6648 or @attiyya_sun
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