Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 22, 1994 TAG: 9403220170
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MELANIE S. HATTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The work was dedicated at a weekend reception and can be viewed through street-level windows of the otherwise vacant building.
It was made by participants in the Center Scholars program, which annually offers high school juniors and seniors a chance to expand their creativity by working with professional artists and exploring different art forms.
The 10-year-old program is named for Center in the Square, where it is based, and is coordinated by the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge.
The scholars are selected from applicants from area schools. The only criterion is a serious interest in art, said sculptor Mimi Babe Harris, artist-in-residence with Roanoke city and county schools. Harris and the arts council's Brook Dickson were adult co-directors on the program.
The scholars developed their project during workshops on weekends and a few weekday evenings over a six-week period. The theme was ``Creating Public Art,'' and Harris said the students were given free rein to create whatever they wanted.
In group discussions, they talked about themselves and their futures and struck upon the concept of every experience as a process along the path of life. They have used the path of life theme in their display, which blends the work of each student into a collaborative whole.
Christine Boutilier, a senior at Cave Spring High School, used a window frame she had found the week before in an upstairs room of the Grand Exchange Building. The frame had six panes in it, and she began to think of how she could incorporate elements of her life into the panes of glass.
On one, she stuck a paper cross to represent her faith. In another she quoted a passage from the Bible.
Pat Huybrechts, whose daughter Erin also was in the program, couldn't resist telling Boutilier how much she liked the piece during the opening reception.
``I read the Scripture, and the depth of understanding from a young person, it made my heart happy,'' she said.
``I'm big into quotes,'' Boutilier said. ``Other people's words echo what I'm thinking.''
She chose a passage from the book of Jeremiah, 29:11, that begins ```For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord.''
Like many seniors, Boutilier had been thinking a lot about college, and the project helped her think more clearly about her future, she said.
``All these pieces are really personal,'' said William Byrd High School senior Troy Farmer, another scholar. ``We did a lot of soul searching to get it down and get it real.''
``It wasn't so much doing the art, it was working with the people,'' said Charles Danforth, a junior at William Fleming High School. Bringing 17 minds together to build one idea was not easy, he said. But it worked.
Harris, who began working with Center Scholars four years ago, had no preconceived idea of what the public art project would be.
``They take it in their direction,'' she said. ``If you give kids the opportunity to expand themselves they'll come up with a better idea than you could.''
by CNB