Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center is excited to host their annual Artapolooza fine arts festival. This year, it will take place on March 24 through March 29 at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center at 890 W. Fourth Street in Mansfield.
“This year’s exhibition is shaping up to be quite the event!” stated Jennifer Pennell, Mid-Ohio ESC Gifted Education Consultant. Sherri Richter, Gifted Education Consultant, and Pennell are co-coordinators of this year’s event. “We wanted to make this a true celebration of the arts, so we are including some musical performances as well.” Musical performances will take place on Friday evenings beginning at 6:00 PM, as well as during gallery hours throughout the weekend.
The gallery will be open on Friday, March 24, from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, Saturday, March 25, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and Sunday, March 26, from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The gallery will also be open during the week on Monday, March 27, through Wednesday, March 29, from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
As in years previous, Artapolooza will be accepting all types of visual art projects: paintings, drawings, sculptures, as well as mixed media and digital art. Pennell emphasized that students from all area schools, not just MOESC member districts, are all welcome and may submit projects for the festival.
This year the art awards presentation will be held on Wednesday, March 29, at 6:30 PM in the Artist’s Hall. A slideshow presentation and gallery walk will also be available on Mid-Ohio ESC’s website at the end of the event. “This will allow the public to be able to view the gallery and awards virtually as well,” stated Pennell. Mid-Ohio ESC would like to thank Kahl’s Sound for their generous support of Artapolooza and for providing funding for the awards.
Also, this year, as part of the arts celebration, Mid-Ohio ESC is pleased to present an artist’s workshop on Tuesday, March 28, for middle school and high school students and their teachers with teaching artist Luke Beekman of DoJo Comics entitled, “Art and Story Fundamentals.” Students will learn the basics of graphic novel and comic book design, including character and story design. Director of Teaching and Learning, Carrie Wood, stated: “Leveraging interest in the arts as an entry point to improving literacy is a great way to hone essential disciplinary skills required for college/career and beyond.” “It’s a great way to incorporate literacy with art in a format that students can relate to,” adds Richter. The artist’s workshop is by registration only, and seats are limited to ten per district.
Pennell further stated, “Artapolooza is about celebrating the arts, something that is important to every child’s education. We are supporting the belief from the Ohio Department of Education that ‘education in Fine Arts is essential in developing the whole child.'”
Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center provides specialized academic and support services to 11 school districts and over 18,000 students in Crawford, Morrow and Richland Counties. Client districts receive services from curriculum, gifted and special education consultants, speech pathologists, psychologists, special education teachers, occupational therapists and physical therapists.
From MOESC
