NORWICH – Around 50 kids participating in this year’s summer youth program at The Place will take the final steps this week in finishing up their annual art project, creating four large community sculptures.
The largest of the four cement figures, a giant caterpillar, measures eight feet in length and is estimated to weigh several hundred pounds.
The sculptures can bee seen at the Chenango County Fairgrounds this week near the event’s conservation and environmental exhibition buildings, located near the west gate.
The KIDS Program (Kids In Direct Supervision) also created a frog, turtle and rabbit as part of this year’s class, which brought in a resident artist, Kathy Creutzburg, from her Manhattan Studio.
In preparing for their project, students and Creutzburg selected the topic of local wildlife as their inspiration. Each student then drew a sketch of what animal they’d like to create and made a clay sculpture of the creature during the class.
“I wanted to use their ideas as much as possible. Kids have wonderful ideas. I just helped them to organize it, really,” said Creutzburg.
After having each student create a clay sculpture, the classes selected the four animals for the large scale project. The finished sculptures will be donated to the Chenango County Fair.
Before pouring the cement, the kids also created an array of smaller designs using brightly colored rocks, glass and other interesting materials by pressing them in a plate-sized cement base. The dozens of hardened colored “plates and muffins” were set into the final sculptures before they dried, explained Creutzburg. Students and volunteers began mixing and laying the cement for the statues Friday and setting dozens of the plates into the figures.
Creutzburg said she has been coming to The Place every summer for the last seven years and each of the group’s projects have featured aesthetic or practical contributions to the community.
“We want the kids to go out there for a hands on activity where they can learn while creating something they can be proud of,” said The Place’s Executive Director Dave Sheldon.
Sheldon explained the KIDS summer program is a full day experience-based program for ages 5 to 12. According to The Place’s web site, www.theplace-cncn.org, the program focuses on “fun, experimenting with new things and learning about our community, the environment and getting along with one another. The program features field trips, games and activities all around Norwich from arts and crafts, swimming to cooking and more.”
Creutzburg joined the kids at The Place through the DCMO BOCES Learn and Serve America Program which offers funds to teachers interested in engaging students in service-based community projects. The program is designed for teachers to build a hands-on learning experience while fulfilling a community contribution.