By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Art brought two unlikely groups of people together Wednesday.
Middle schoolers from North Hills Christian School and residents at the Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks spent the morning working on a piece to display during Waterworks Visual Art Center’s “Celebrate Sculpture” event.
First, the residents sanded pieces of wood cut into geometric shapes such as rectangles, squares, circles and cylinders.
Then the wood pieces went to North Hills, where seventh- and eighth-grade students primed them.
Next they were sent back to the Lutheran Home where residents painted them in bright shades of red, blue, orange, purple and yellow.
Students then painted designs on each piece.
On Wednesday, the two groups met for the first time to assemble the sculpture as one cohesive piece.
Students worked with the residents to glue the wood pieces to an 8 by 4 foot wooden frame.
Seventh-grader Olivia Houghton said it was wonderful to be able to work with the residents.
“It’s a great project because they got to interact with younger people,” she said. “They did a great job on the painting.”
Dominique Roseman, a seventh-grader, said he was excited to collaborate with the seniors.
“They are such nice people,” he said.
Resident Betty Watson, a former watercolor artist, was thrilled to see the sculpture coming together.
“They’re doing a great thing,” she said. “Art seems to be the last thing a company, group of school indulges in. I’m glad to see it here.”
Resident Joe Saleeby didn’t participate in the building of the sculpture, but he was in awe at the finished product.
“It’s a work of art, the colors and shapes of each piece,” he said. “It’s amazing, beautiful, I love it.”
North Hills art teacher Ann Bourque said this is the first time her students have partnered with Trinity Oaks, but it probably won’t be the last.
“I wanted to take art into the community with my students,” she said. “I wanted to show them that art is more than just in the classroom.”
Bourque worked closely with the Lutheran home’s activity department to get the project off the ground.
After leaving Waterworks the sculpture will be displayed downtown in the front window of the Kress Building for an indefinite period of time.
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.