Teacher Marilyn Sprouse celebrates 25 years of showcasing students’ work
Lancaster Elementary School (LES) visual arts teacher Marilyn Sprouse has proudly curated her students’ artwork for Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury’s December Show for last quarter century.
And she’s just as enthusiastic as she was for that first show in 1999.
“This show is a GOOD one!” she said. I am very excited and have so many wonderful pieces to share. Included will be art creations from almost every student in kindergarten (paper collage, drawings, pumpkin patch or painting), 3rd grader (glue and watercolor painting, feathered friends), 4th grader (collage and self-portraits), and 5th graders (plate design and pop art portraits).”
The students are prolific and Sprouse teaches 130 children per day.
There will be about 300 works on display in RWC’s Gallery Hall starting Dec. 1 and will remain through the end of the year.
“Second grade has been working over a month on their woven forest/Christmas tree) in the snow and some of those are completed and I hope to display. But some students have already told me, ‘No, this is going home with me!’”
While Sprouse has displayed middle school work in the past, this year’s show will only feature elementary school art.
“These are amazing little kiddos,” she said. “This year, it’s just the wee ones and their work is just adorable. I Iove giving kids an idea and seeing where they take it.”
Sprouse does not use artificial intelligence at all in her classrooms.
“AI is interfering with art,” she said. “When I bring up visual references for the kids, I used to be able to type in something like, ‘Seascape,’ and Google knows me, so it serves up artwork and photography. Now I’m seeing unreal colors and perfection of the landscape. The kids are drawn to it, but they can’t identify that it’s AI. It’s so pretty, but not realistic.”
To counter the influence of AI, Sprouse said she has “gone old school.” “I’m teaching them to see shapes and how to draw, she said.
An art reception for the December Show will be at 4 p.m. Dec. 3 in the Atrium and Gallery Hall and is free and open to Rappahannock Club members and prospective residents.
Residents and community members are invited to view the exhibition 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily throughout December in Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury’s Gallery Hall.
