By Susan Shinn
sshinn@salisburypost.com
Imagine a blank canvas, just 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches ó the size of a trading card.
Now imagine 3,000 cards filled with every kind of artwork you can imagine.
Students at Erwin Middle School have been creating art cards. What started as a fundraiser to buy a kiln for the art department has turned into a schoolwide project involving students, parents and teachers.
The art department held its first art card sale the week of Feb. 2.
Student Government Association members helped out by selling the cards during lunch.
The cards, which cost $1, are still for sale at Fine Frame Gallery, 105 S. Main St. They’re also available at Tastebuds, 106 N. Main St.
The cards will be for sale again at the school’s spring art show next month.
Thus far, the art cards have raised $900 for the school.
The project was the idea of art instructors Emily Brinskelle and Leslie Hudson-Tolles ó the students call her Mrs. H-T.
The students have embraced the cards with enthusiasm.
“The kids just went bananas,” Brinskelle says.
“I’ve made about 10,” says eighth-grader Hannah Pressley. “We did them in Mrs. B’s class at first. It’s really fun. I like how they’re so small. They’re quirky.
“You can put whatever you want on them. All mine have shoes. I love shoes!”
“We are the only middle school in the county that does not have a kiln,” Hudson-Tolles says.
A kiln costs $5,000, but students are undaunted.
Amber Ritchie, also an eighth-grader, put overlapping circles on her cards, part of a color study for Hudson-Tolles.
Hudson-Tolles went to Wal-Mart to buy baseball card sleeves, 1,000 to a box.
“I had to go back three times,” Hudson-Tolles says.
Not only does the project involve art, but writing as well.
The students write their names and signature on the back along with an artist’s statement.
“It actually became a lesson,” Hudson-Tolles says.
Looking at the cards at Fine Frame Gallery is a hoot.
“This is the most complicated card I have done,” writes Dorina Duca. “It’s a real interesting piece.”
“I like to express what I feel by drawing,” writes Kelsey Wagoner.
Amy Shank made two standout cards ó one an acrylic of “a dreamy sunset, where the colors dance; bouncing from the sky, to the water at the horizon ó into your eyes.”
Then there’s Brenda Sanchez, an artist with a sense of humor.
One of her cards is a single eye surrounded by teardrops and other shapes.
“Yes. I know, an eye is crying,” she writes. “No. I am not depressed. OK? Get off the idea that I’m sick in the head, please. (Sick in the head…) Why’d I write that? I don’t know!
A second card features a smiling sun with a quarter moon in the background.
It’s a nice piece.
But she must not think so.
On the back, she writes, “I really don’t like this one .. so I won’t be hurt if it burns your eyes and you put it in the shredder. (Sorry for other injuries … I am SO not paying your hospital bill … I HAD to do this!)
Maranda Wilcox, an eighth-grader, used overlapping circles and other abstract shapes in her cards. Wilcox says she likes making up things and coloring and drawing.
Students aren’t the only ones who have gotten involved.
“We had a lot of teachers who wanted to help,” Hudson-Tolles says. “This has been a real community effort.”
Some of the teachers had never done art before.
“These cards aren’t threatening,” Hudson-Tolles says. “You can try something.”
Teachers got involved by making 20 cards for a silent auction, which raised $200.
Donna Teeter, who teaches life skills, made a number of collage cards.
Sixth-grader Bristol Carlton bought two cards, he says, “because they’re both beautiful.”
He used them as cards for Valentine’s Day.
“He is now a collector of original art,” Hudson-Tolles says.
“It’s something the parents can do with their kids,” Brinskelle says. “It’s been awesome.”