Bloomfield Middle School Encourages Young Artists

At a time when schools across the country are cutting arts programs, Bloomfield Middle School offers the unique opportunity to let the its youth's talent flourish.

Last week, Bloomfield Middle School hosted an art show. Friends and family were welcome to view their children’s artwork in a public forum. It also afforded the faculty the opportunity to recognize the students, who truly excelled with certificates of recognition.

Parents and children alike were uniformly enthusiastic about the school’s efforts to foster the arts.

Eighth grader Aliya Valencia told Patch, “I love drawing, and I love music, so it was cool because I love the different textures I was able to come up with and the poems I got to pick from for the book.” She picked the poem “On Her Dead Son” by Chiyo-Ni to illustrate in her artwork.

“She’s come a long way and she does really good. I tell her all the time she should pursue it,” said her mother, Alexza Valencia. “I’m very proud of her. She does a great job. She’s really good at everything she does,” she added.

Another mother, Jean Carr, couldn’t help but beam pride at the work of her daughter, Jessica and friend, Montana Peschler, who are both seventh graders.

“They’ve known each other since they were three and look how far they’ve come together. That’s a good thing,” Carr said.

Daughter Jessica even offered that she is interested in “painting, maybe” in the future.

Zach Boussatta, a seventh grader, who likes painting “animals and people” actually had a little trouble finding his work among the hundreds of entries.

“There’s a really impressive array of styles and genres and some really striking pieces,” said his mother Sally Bousatta. “The level of quality is really impressive over-all.”

Tina Littlejohn, parent of Tiarah, said her daughter “did a really good job. It looks so much like the magazine cover,” she exclaimed.

Tiarah, who created the portrait from a magazine photo, doesn’t have a favorite artist yet but is interested in pursuing painting in the future.

Art teacher, Elaine Yonke, couldn’t be more satisfied with her kids’ work.

“I try to build on and keep a theme like the value of working with lights and darks,” she said explaining how they work throughout the year. “They see you mix these two colors and look you get another one, ‘Wow’. And they never would have realized that without their landscapes.”

“Art should be seen by many people. It’s nice. The teachers walk by and the students are like, ‘Yeah, I saw so-and-so’s? Did you see that? Look how great that looks. He did that?’” Yonke said.

Yonke’s mother, Mildred Weiss, attended the show, as well. “It comes naturally to her. I think she takes it for granted that she has this to give to the students.”

Dr. John Pierce, Supervisor of Fine Arts in Bloomfield, explained that this Summer’s Arts Program is a wonderful way for students to continue with their interests. The program runs from July 5^th to July 29^th and covers music, art and drama.

“We do it right here in the Middle School and it’s great,” he said, adding, “They get to do it every day…these kids just take off.”