Riverton gala will benefit new playscape

Riverton Elementary School will host its third annual Art Gala and Silent Auction on Thursday, May 9, to raise funds to create a natural playscape for children of all abilities to enjoy. The event will run from 5-6:30 p.m. at the school, located at 1600 Forest Ave., and is open to students, families and community members.

Available for viewing at the Art Gala will be more than 400 pieces of student artwork. Communal artworks created by each classroom will be auctioned off in the Silent Auction, as will items such as baskets of books, art from local artists, home goods and gift certificates to local businesses. There will be live music and entertainment.

Riverton has one playground for about 450 students. It was built 13 years ago and is designed for children ages 7-12. It has just one handicapped swing and children using wheelchairs find the playground difficult to navigate.

Plans call for building the new playscape on an open hill in the front of the school, near classrooms for students in the school’s Bridge program, which serves students from around Portland with disabilities that impact their ability to access a typical playground. Since Riverton is a community center as well as a school, the playscape can be used up to 15 hours a day, year-round.

The first phase of the playscape is underway. A sand river with a repurposed boat has been completed. A tree fort is being built and will be installed this summer. This year’s Gala will help raise money to complete phase one, with benches, edible berry bushes and other plantings.

Freeport students win art/environmental awards

More than a half dozen seventh-graders at Freeport Middle School won awards in the 2019 Healthy Whale, Healthy Ocean Challenge sponsored by Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs and Conservation Law Foundation.

Students had the opportunity to create art as a way to express their understanding about the changes to the environment that are affecting the right whale. The challenge was open to K-12 students who live in the New England/Gulf of Maine regions in the United States or Canada.

Teagan Davenport won silver in the Film Category, which came with a $250 cash prize, while Brielle Hodgkin received an honorable mention in the Art Category, winning a $25 prize.

In the essay that accompanied her project, Teagan wrote that she made an animated video to show the perspective of a right whale during a boat collision. “Although this video is only 60 seconds long, it really did change something in my heart about right whales,” Teagan said. “I don’t know if it’s sympathy or anger I feel after watching this video, but something motivates me to want to help stop boat collisions.

“It doesn’t have to be this project, but something should motivate you to want to help as well. Don’t let humans be responsible for yet another extinct species, stop boat collisions.”

In addition, the projects submitted by Alexis Goff, YiLin Wang, Luci Bourgois, Ian Smith and Evie Phelps and Bridgette Francoeur were each selected as Notable Awardees in the Art Category. 

More than 130 participants created visual art, poetry, and short films that celebrated the iconic right whales and drove action for their protection. Their submissions emphasized the beauty of the animals and called attention to the many threats they face, including ship strikes, entanglements, and pollution.

Gold, silver and bronze winners who most effectively combined knowledge of the issue, creative expression, and persuasive activism were selected in each of three age divisions. Their work can be seen at bit.ly/2VjN9Oy.

Portland student art showcased at City Hall

The artwork of hundreds of talented Portland Public School students in kindergarten through grade 12 is being showcased this month at City Hall, located at 389 Congress St.

The artwork will be on display until May 23, giving the public an opportunity to learn about the creativity, intelligence, artistic abilities and social awareness of students in Portland Public Schools. The show also shows how the district’s art teachers foster student creativity and talent in their students.

Brielle Hodgkin, a seventh-grader at Freeport Middle School, received an honorable mention in the 2019 Healthy Whale, Healthy Ocean Challenge.