October 2007 Featured Story
Celebrating a continuing commitment to student artists
Flipping through time:
Our favorite winners, 1999 through 2008
As we flip up the 10th month of the 2007 calendar this month, many of us are starting to flip out at the thought that another year has come and almost gone.
But for those buckling under the weight of the realization that it’s almost 2008, Electric Consumer and participating Indiana electric cooperatives have a gift guaranteed to lift the years or at least make you feel young at heart.
It’s the Cooperative Calendar of Student Art — now in its 10th edition.
The 2008 calendar is now available.
Each year, the calendar is illustrated with the original works of art created by Indiana students statewide. The works are selected from a contest held each spring. The contest is open to all Indiana students in grades kindergarten through high school senior. Students are assigned the month corresponding with their grade number. As the calendar progresses through the year, the art progresses from grade to grade.
Beginning with the 1999 edition, the cooperative calendar has served as the colorful printed catalog of the contest winners. But the Electric Consumer and the sponsoring cooperatives hope the joint art contest/calendar project is more than that. The project encourages students to create art and acknowledges their efforts in a public and positive way.
“On the back of one of the canvas boards entered in last year’s contest was the Picasso quote, ‘All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up,’” noted Richard Biever, senior editor of Electric Consumer. “That quote really goes to the heart of what this project is all about: encouraging students to keep creating art throughout their school years and beyond, whether they win any awards or not.”
In the 10 years, some 60,400 pieces of original art have been created for the contest by students statewide. Cash prizes are awarded to the artists who win the 13 grade divisions, and to another nine artists who win honorable mentions. These nine appear in a special four-page back section of each calendar. Over 400 “Award of Merit” certificates are also sent to other students whose works make the final cut in the individual grade divisions.
The co-op calendar also provides a useful way for member/consumers to connect daily with the co-ops that use the calendar. Nineteen of the state’s 39 co-ops localize their version with information such as billing and annual meeting dates, energy tips and local emergency phone numbers.
Written By: eceditor
Date Posted: 9/19/2007
Number of Views: 1261
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