BIDDEFORD — On Sunday morning, hundreds of pieces of artwork were on display on the first floor of the George and Barbara Bush Center at the University of New England campus. There was art on tables, windows, a counter top and a bulletin board, all made by Maine students participating in the Maine is Me! art challenge sponsored by Maine first lady Ann LePage, in partnership with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

Artwork by students from Androscoggin, Kennebec, Cumberland, York, Sagadahoc and Oxford counties was on display.

Artwork from students in Aroostook, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, Lincoln, Waldo, Franklin, Knox and Somerset counties will be on display at the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor on Dec. 20.

In total, there were 867 pieces of artwork from students in kindergarten through eighth grade statewide, said Becky Dyer, program manager for the Barbara Bush Foundation.

The artwork of 32 selected winners will be published in LePage’s upcoming book, Love.Read.Learn! Baby Journal, published in partnership with the Barbara Bush Foundation, said Dyer. The scrapbook-style journal promotes literacy and health to Maine families with newborns. It will be provided at no cost to parents of newborns in 2013 and distribution will begin in June.

Dyer and LePage, along with two retired art teachers and Argy Nestor, visual and performing arts specialist with the state department of education, used a rubric to determine the winners, who were graded on items that including texture, sticking to their theme and use of medium, said Dyer.

LePage was on hand Sunday, greeting the student artists, talking with them about their art and complimenting their work; and posing for pictures.

She and Dyer shared a laugh as they remembered the Blaine House floors covered with artwork, with pathways to walk through as they judged the artwork.

Dyer said it was difficult to pick the winners with so many talented artists.

“Oh, my word, yes, it was hard. There was some great art work,” said Dyer.

LePage said, “I don’t have any artistic ability at all,” and she was grateful for the help of the judges with artistic backgrounds, who gave them direction in what to look for.

“Oh, I couldn’t believe it. I was flabbergasted to say the least. There are some talented kids out there,” said LePage.

The artwork included pictures of lighthouses, moose, outdoor scenes and lobster.

“I think we captured every part of Maine,” she said.

Greater Portland Christian School fourth-grader Owen Mann’s picture of a lighthouse will be featured in the book.

“I was excited when I found out,” he said Sunday at the event. “I was surprised.”

He said he enjoys art, and this was the first contest he had ever entered.

“I think I’m going to enter more contests,” he said.

Andrew Frost, a sixth-grader from Winthrop Middle School, was a winner with his picture of a fish underwater near a dock. He said Sunday that he found out his picture was chosen at school a few weeks ago. 

“I was proud of myself,” he said.

Frost said he loves to draw, and before this competition, he won a blue ribbon at an art competition at a fair. He said he is “very excited” to have his art featured in the book.

“It’s really cool,” he said.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.