ALLENTOWN, Pa, — Third- and fifth-graders in Allentown School District got to take part in an artist Renaissance residency this school year, and now some of their works of art hang in the cafeteria at Lehigh Valley Hospital on 17th Street in Allentown.
The theme of this year’s Renaissance Art residency program was “Van Gogh Sunflowers.”
District Artist-in-Residence Rosemary Geseck worked with more than 200 students from Mosser and Anna Mae Hays elementary schools for the project. Each child involved created his or her own vision of a sunflower.
- Hundreds of students have participated in the artist-in-residency events
- This year's theme was "Van Gogh Sunflowers"
- The events are through the foundation, not the district
Geseck has conducted the artist residencies on behalf of Allentown School District Foundation, a nonprofit organization, for many years.
The foundation said it has funded this Renaissance art residency program, which has helped more than 10,000 students in more than 50 different residencies over the past 10 years.
Geseck said the residential experiences, as with painting the sunflowers, are very technique-driven.
“We were looking at Vincent Van Gogh,” she said. “I was showing them because he was a real master sunflower artist who used a lot of different colors and outlined a lot.”Rosemary Geseck is ASD's district’s artist-in-residence.
“We were looking at Vincent Van Gogh,” she said. “I was showing them because he was a real master sunflower artist who used a lot of different colors and outlined a lot.”
Geseck said the students used oil pastels, then a watercolor blue for the background — which the oil colors resisted. That created interesting background techniques to their sunflowers.
Julie Ambrose, who is with the ASD Foundation, said the students get to keep their work through it being scanned and sent back to them.
Some of it was chosen by the foundation to be displayed in community areas, such as Lehigh Valley Hospital’s cafeteria. The cafeteria also has art on display from previous ASD art residencies from 2017 and 2014.
Just about 10 pieces of works from the Sunflower residency will be displayed in the Lehigh Valley Hospital’s cafeteria.
Some of the students' work can be bought in some merchandise opportunities, such as notecards, as donors to the foundation.
One of the artists whose sunflower art is being featured in the cafeteria is third-grader Ian Ogando. He said one of his main goals was to make his mother happy.
“I want my mom to be super proud of me,” Ian said. He said he likes to draw buildings in his free time.
