Student artwork to be featured at Colonial Arts Center on Main Street starting Friday, March 18

News Release
March 12, 2022

BUCKHANNON — Upshur County Schools and ART26201 will present an art exhibition featuring artworks of students from all Upshur County Schools, at the M.I.B. GALLERY in the Colonial Arts Center starting Friday, March 18, 2022, with a special opening reception from 4 to 8 p.m.

“This will be the third installment of this wonderful collaboration between Upshur County Schools, ART26201, and the City of Buckhannon,” said Heidi Thompson, lead organizer for the event and Fine Art Department Chair at Buckhannon-Upshur High School. “March is National Youth Art Month, so we (the art teachers) are inviting our community to come celebrate and support these young artists. Visitors to this exhibition will see student artworks representing many diverse media and subjects. There will be oil paintings, prints, photography, collage, sculpture, drawing, paintings, and more!”

The annual fine art exhibition gives Upshur County School students the opportunity to participate in a multi-school exhibition of their own artworks.

“We are thrilled to exhibit Upshur County student artwork for another year,” said ART26201 Vice President John Waltz. “It has been uniquely exciting to see their works hang on the same walls as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and many of the world’s best-known artists. These early opportunities may also be the seeds to a career in the arts and a life fulfilled with passion and creativity. As the Colonial Arts Center opens fully this summer, we see endless opportunities for artistic programming for our youth.”

In addition to the opening event on March 18, the M.I.B. GALLERY will be open from 4-8 p.m. on March 19, 25 and 26, and April 1, 2, 8 and 9.

All events at the M.I.B. GALLERY are free and open to the public.

This exhibition is a collaboration of the Upshur County School art teachers, ART26201, and the City of Buckhannon. Significant financial assistance for the Colonial Arts Center Rehabilitation project has been provided by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History; ART26201; Buckhannon Community Theatre; West Virginia Split Rail; and the FirstEnergy Foundation.

If you would like to volunteer or receive more information, please contact Heidi Thompson at 304-266-4100, or email hgthompson@k12.wv.us.