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Art Education Programs
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One of the primary purposes of the Northwest Alabama Arts Council (NWAAC) is art education.
Since its inception in 2004, the NWAAC has instituted programs involving students from
kindergarten through the twelfth grade in our local schools. Some programs are short,
while others have now grown into full-time programs.
The vast majority of funding for the NWAAC art education programs comes from proceeds of
our two hosted festivals – the Jerry Brown Arts Festival (JBAF) and the Buttahatchee River
Fall Festival (BRFF). Monies raised within the Marion County area stays in the Marion County
area to support our students and our schools and our communities.
Resources for our art education programs are provided by many of our festival artists through
the arts council’s “Visiting Artists Program,” in which JBAF and BRFF artists return, oftentimes
from many miles away, to our schools and share with students their special skills and talents,
providing students with opportunities for hands-on exposure to art forms often unknown to many of
those students.
Another resource for our arts council and students is the Continuing Education Department of the
Hamilton Campus of Bevill State Community College. Partnering with Bevill State, the NWAAC and
BSCC work together to place certified art instructors into local schools to work with students
who show interest in the arts.
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Molding Hearts, Hands & Minds
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Created in 2007, a program for elementary school-age children entitled “Molding Hearts, Hands & Minds”
gives 25 students the opportunity to work with Smithsonian potter Jerry Brown and exposes these young
students to the techniques that have been used in the pottery business over nine generations of the
Brown family. Brown is only known traditional potter still using a mule-powered pug mill in the
entire United States.
These 25 students receive three hours of personal instruction from Brown, including the production
of their own, individual piece of pottery by working with Brown on his wheel, putting their hands
in his; and then with their own hearts, hands, and minds, mold the clay into their artistic masterpiece.
Participants in the program have their pieces of pottery displayed at the Jerry Brown Arts Festival,
held annually the first weekend of March in Hamilton. After their works are judged, the Top 5
participants are selected and awarded scholarships by the NWAAC to the Bevill State Community
College Arts Camp scheduled for June of each year.
Schools whose students have participated in the program include:
2007 – Hamilton Elementary School
2008 – Guin Elementary School
2009 – Brilliant Elementary School
2010 – Phillips Elementary School
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Art in the Middle
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“Art in the Middle” was created at Hamilton Middle School in 2007 as a pilot program
through the efforts of the Northwest Alabama Arts Council, Bevill State Community
College-Hamilton Campus, Alabama State Council on the Arts, the Hamilton Cosmopolitan Club,
and the Hamilton Civitan Club.
After two years as a part-time program, due to demands of the students at HMS, Art in the Middle
was changed to a full-time art program for the 2009 – 2010 school year.
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Sketching the Future
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Created in 2007 by the Northwest Alabama Arts Council and the Alabama State Council on the Arts,
this program is providing the opportunity for certified art instructors from Bevill State Community
College – Hamilton Campus to go into all Marion County high schools and work with interested students
over a two-month period during January and February each year. Interested students work primarily in
the field of drawing.
All drawings go through a selection process, and those pieces of works of the highest quality are
displayed at the annual Jerry Brown Arts Festival. At the festival, those drawings are judged
and the winning students are awarded monetary prizes for first, second, and third places.
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