Bring the whole family to experience a sensational night of visual intricacy and musical talent showcasing Tigers in each grade of Marietta City Schools.
Student artists from Kindergarten through the Senior Class will gather their artistic works for one night only, April 26 at Marietta High School beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Student visual arts will fill the Sutton Gymnasium with an exhibition of painted, drawn, knit, woodcraft, carving, pottery, sculpture, resin and digital entries from all four of the district schools.
"I'm always excited by what we pull off with the live reverse trompe l'oeil painting during the festival," shares Marietta High School art Teacher Heath Rader. "You're taking a 3D object and making it look like a painting."
This year the painting recreation will be American Gothic by Grant Wood portrayed by two MHS Tigers Avah Day and Dante Apshaga-Meaux and painted by Senior Danielle Keerps and Rader.
More than 200 visual pieces have been entered into the show, including woodwork from Steve Foutty's engineering students in scrollsaw.
"Letting the students use wood as the media for creating projects is not typically thought of in art expression, but it's evolved beautifully with our students' interests," Foutty explains.
High School and Elementary musicians will also join the festival this year, previewing spring concerts and independent work in the auditorium.
"The Fine Arts Festival is historically one of the biggest events that Marietta City Schools puts on because it showcases hundreds of students of all grades," shares MES Director of Bands Steve Brown. "From our building alone, you're looking at 150 musicians featured."
Ukulele, bucket drums and recorder performers will be the first to grace the Marietta High School Auditorium stage beginning at 5:30 p.m. with elementary performances until 6:15 p.m.
Plus, sculptures, paintings, collages and more are to fill the gym from each elementary school alongside the work of high school students.
"They've done a really good job on watercolors and with drawing flowers while laying on their bellies and looking at flowers," K-2 Art Teacher Prudence Burgardt describes. "But we've also highlighted different cultures and traditions of art throughout the year. One we focused on was Alma Thomas in February."
Alma Thomas was an African-American teacher and is now recognized as a major 20th-century painter.
"She was the first female black artist to be featured in the White House," shares Burgardt as she selects Tiger collages inspired by the artist's expressionist work.
Also on display from MES will be a variety of works from MES Art Teacher Megan Lankford's classroom.
"All students at MES get to take art and this year we were able to cover a variety of mediums including sculpture and printmaking," shares Lankford. "And with the consolidation, I get to see students more often and get to cover more art history and different elements of art including fiber arts, so hopefully with my exposure at this level they have an idea of what they might be interested in when they reach Mr. Rader at the high school."
Special Performer
New to the high school stage is a young singer and songwriter from Marietta Elementary School with her sights set on a music career after graduation.
"I'm going to perform Harland Road by Tyler Childers, Jersey Giant by Elle King, which was also written by Tyler Childers, and I think I'll perform an original song Sweet Son of Perfume that I wrote," says Third Grade Student Charlie Brewer.
The Tiger started playing guitar when she was six years old and first gigged with Sadie Johnson at Jeremiah's Coffee House in Marietta.
"I'm going to go to college for music in Tennessee, I just played there over spring break at my brother's friend's shop and I have to go back," she shares.
She's a musician that leads with bravery.
"Charlie is 10, but she's able to do things that adults sometimes are too scared to do," adds MES Director of Bands Steve Brown. "She's writing her own music, she plays guitar and sings at the same time."
And Brewer's advice for when others are feeling nervous?
"If you can't do it, then you're not trying hard enough," she says with a small grin.
Click here to learn more about the Unified Arts at Marietta City Schools.