The Humane Society of Sedona has four new beautiful murals in their dog and cat meeting rooms thanks to the talented painting and drawing students at Sedona Red Rock High School! On May 15, 2014, the completed murals were presented to the Humane Society. I stopped by to take a photo of their masterpieces, for some ice-cream and for some great conversation with the project facilitators. I was happy to hear countless words of praise from everyone who got a sneak peek at the murals before they were taken to the meeting rooms.
About the project:
Sedona Arts Center teamed up with Sedona Red Rock High School and the Humane Society of Sedona to create four murals under the instruction of Nubia Owens. The Arizona Kids Tax Credit funded the instruction for the project and the Humane Society of Sedona provided the materials. This is just one of many instructional projects created by the Sedona Arts Center under their art enhancement outreach program, where instructors are sent to art classes at the Sedona Red Rock High School to offer specialized skills in the arts. Past projects have included: colored pencil, watercolor and graphite drawing.
Helen Masters, a volunteer from the Humane Society of Sedona initiated the mural project with the Humane Society and Geoffrey Worssam, the art teacher at Sedona Red Rock High School. Together with Vince Fazio, Director of the School of Arts at Sedona Arts Center and Nubia Owens an experience muralist they joined forces to create four 4’x4’ panels that were installed in the pet meeting rooms. Nubia Owens has helped to facilitate three mural projects in Sedona in the past year: one at Posse Grounds, one at the West Sedona Middle School and the Humane Society project. Jackie Randall, a volunteer coordinator at the Humans Society facilitated the approval and implementation of the project.
These art outreach programs are an extremely important part of our community efforts and the mural project was just one of many programs put together by the Sedona Arts Center. In April, Dennis Ott and Joanie Wolter traveled to the Navajo Reservation to present a ceramics workshop to 48 high school students at Thoreau, New Mexico. Also in April, two arts immersions took place at West Sedona Middle School and Big Park Community School, teaching painting and collage, writing, dance and journaling to the students. The arts immersion program is funded by the City of Sedona, Target, the Sedona Community Foundation and the Arizona Kids Tax Credit and organized by the Sedona Arts Center’s School of the Arts. The Kling Family Foundation funded the Navajo Reservation immersion.
I would like to say, “THANK YOU!” to everyone involved! You are making a difference in this crazy world of budgeting and programming cuts… because you’re sharing the world of art – and to me, there’s nothing more important than sharing arts and science with our children.
