Artists to take residence at Beth-Center, Bentworth high schools
BENTLEYVILLE – A Pittsburgh foundation will provide professional artists to work with students in Bethlehem-Center and Bentworth high schools to create works for public display in their communities.
The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation will invest $10,000 at each of the rural schools to support local art and a program that strives to instill pride in students through the display of their collaborative artworks.
“Their names are on it,” said James V. Denova, the foundation’s vice president.
“That’s very important. They contributed to the community,” Denova said recently at Bentworth High School during a meeting hosted by state Rep. Bud Cook, R-West Pike Run, to announce the projects.
The grant program has given a total of $270,000 for projects at 14 regional schools, including Washington High School, where students created a large mosaic that is on display at the Farmers Market Community Pavilion in downtown Washington. Other Benedum-supported projects by students can be viewed at Citizens Library and the Washington County Transit Authority building, both of which are in Washington.
At Beth-Center and Bentworth, the students will create projects during this school year that “focus on the history of the region, environment and wildlife,” said Carmelle Nickens, who manages the projects through the Fayette County Cultural Trust for the Rural Arts Collaborative Arts Education Project.
Silkscreen artist Cody Yoders-Vanata of Greene County is working at Beth-Center, and she’s expressed an interest in creating a sculpture of canaries in cages, Nickens said. It’s a tribute to the district’s rich coal mining history and the days when canaries were taken into mines to see if the air was safe to breathe. Yoders-Vanata also has worked with students through The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
Bentworth will host Hiromi Katayama of Washington County, who produces Japanese-inspired watercolors. Some of her work can be found at Citizens Library and the transit authority.
“We are very excited,” Bentworth Superintendent Scott Martin said. He said the program will enhance and “bring a new perspective” to the high school’s new art classroom.
The programs come to Bentworth and Beth-Center at no cost to the districts.