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ArtCart program expands to more schools

PARKERSBURG — A mobile art program piloted last year at Vienna Elementary School will next month expand to three additional schools.

The ArtCart Program is an in-school elementary art program administered by Artsbridge and funded through The Spartan Foundation and Artsbridge.

Artistic Director Kate Esbenshade Hushion created the project and works in collaboration with Artsbridge Director Jane Irvine and two art instructors. The program began last year at Vienna Elementary for grades 3 and 4.

This week Artsbridge announced the program will be expanded to Criss, Martin and Franklin elementary schools. The ArtCart program provides art classes once a week for fourth-graders for 20-24 weeks, beginning in October and ending in April.

The program pays for the supplies and the instructor.

While working as an art teacher at Parkersburg High School, Hushion saw a deficiency in the 9th-grade art students due to the lack of certified art instruction at the elementary level. She started ArtCart in hopes of communicating the importance of art in our world today.

Students receive instruction on art concepts and abilities, and lessons are based on the fourth-grade West Virginia state art standards.

The focus of lessons is on process, not product in hopes of accelerating student creativity.

Students gain skills and vocabulary while exploring the benefits of fine arts education.

There will be an end of the year show to display student work in the spring in prospect of raising more funds to continue the growth of the program next year.

Donations to Artsbridge can be earmarked for the ArtCart Program.

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