BUCKHANNON – A seventh-grade art class hopes their latest project will be able to raise funds and help Ukraine.

Sherri Butler, an art teacher at Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School, said she was already planning a printmaking project for her seventh-grade class and decided to do something for Ukraine.

“Ukraine has been on my heart,” Butler said. “I was on Facebook eating breakfast, and I noticed all these people posting sunflowers for Ukraine … I was getting ready to do a printmaking project with my seventh graders anyway, and I found out that the sunflower was the national flower of Ukraine. I thought, ‘What if we did prints with sunflowers and the national bird of Ukraine, the white stork?’”

Butler said she wanted to take it a step further, selling the prints and donating the money to an organization helping the war victims in Ukraine.

“This class is doing prints with a piece of foam as their printing block, and they were using a lot of yellow and blue for the Ukrainian flag — but they can do anything,” Butler said. “I’m trying to get them to think about how to use space, how to use their images in a way that captures interest. They can also try different techniques, so not just one color on white paper, but how about yellow on blue paper? How about blue on yellow paper? How about using some watercolor paper, printing on that?”

Student Jamison Gambrazzio decided to draw a stork and utilized the yellow and blue colors from Ukraine’s flag.

“We had sheets with some birds and some flowers, to inspire us to do art for Ukraine,” Gambrazzio said. “I decided to do the crane because I thought it was beautiful, and I also thought the moon would be a really good touch. I used yellow and blue because we’re doing this for Ukraine and those are their flag’s colors — also because they’re West Virginia colors.”

Students Kaitlyn Nicholson utilized sunflowers and other natural elements in her project.

“I used flowers, mountains and trees,” Nicholson said. “I wanted to use the sunflower because it is Ukraine’s flower, and right before this project we were working with mountains and trees.”

Butler has not determined how she will sell the artwork, but she is considering asking for about $5 for a print.

“I’m thinking about using social media, the school website, possibly even a silent auction,” she said. “I’m thinking about displays in town… The funding is actually going to have to go into a special account at school, and then we’ll have our secretary write a check to whichever organization. I’m thinking we may sell them for $5, something very doable. Some of the parents might want to even purchase one.”