PORT TOWNSEND — A torrent of public school student art is washing over the city’s two business districts in preparation for a month of colorful exhibits.
On Wednesday — May 1 — the 18th annual Art Wave will hit full force and last the entire month, with store windows in the Downtown and Uptown areas drenched with or showcasing 600 drawings and paintings, and reed, wood, scratch-art and pipe-cleaner creations.
Art was installed at 41 businesses last week for the Port Townsend Main Street program event, Executive Director Mari Mullen said Friday.
Participating businesses are listed at tinyurl.com/PDN-ArtWave.
While some ambitious students from grades K-5 at Salish Coast Elementary, grades 6-8 at Blue Heron School and grades 9-12 at Port Townsend High School have submitted multiple entries, the volume of artwork equals about half the district’s population of 1,200 students.
“It’s really fun to kind of tour around,” Mullen said Friday.
“It’s a celebration of children’s creativity.”
Art Wave intentionally envelops the Port Townsend Rhododendron Festival, held the third weekend of May.
“We thought it would be great to have youth art displayed during the Rhody Festival,” Mullen said.
“It became something people look forward to.”
Art Wave is sponsored by PT Artscape, which will be seeking donations during the event, and Port Townsend Main Street businesses.
PT Artscape was initially funded in 1998 after teachers, school administrators and community members were awarded an arts-in-public-schools grant from the state Arts Commission, when visual arts, music and drama were offered as electives in grades 7-12.
With continued annual funding, mainly but not exclusively through the Arts Commission, PT Artscape has supported expanded visual and dramatic arts for Port Townsend Public School District grades K-12.
The effort includes giving students access to teaching artists who work in classrooms and providing materials for art curricula and lesson plans.
A curriculum bank is at www.ptartscape.com.
PT Artscape also supports Centrum’s Tales, the Texts and Theater Program that focuses on sixth-graders, and other special projects.
PT Artscape donations jars will be at selected participating stores, with proceeds going to school district art education programs.
Funds for PT Artscape’s arts-in-school program also will be raised at a paint-and-sip event from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. May 23 at 823 Washington St.
Adults ages 21 and older are invited.
The event will cost $50.
It includes instruction by award-winning equine artist and Port Townsend High School art teacher Michele Soderstrom, a glass of wine, and cheese, crackers and other appetizers.
And participants get to take home their own painting, Mullen said.
Call 360-385-7911 for further information.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
