To the Editor:

The North Country Art Teachers Association recently held their first annual NCATA K-8 Regional Art Show at the SLL BOCES Center in Canton. There were over 600 people in attendance throughout the evening.

Art teachers, administrators, students, family members, local artists, musicians, and officials at BOCES are among those that came together to exhibit over 200 pieces of artwork for kindergarten through eighth grade students from around the region. Students were selected to enter artwork in five different categories: drawings, paintings, mixed media, collage, and sculptural works.

This event took a coordinated effort by many and the success of the event was due to all involved. The following school districts participated in this event: Brasher Falls, Canton, Clifton-Fine, Edwards-Knox, Gouverneur, Hermon-Dekalb, Heuvelton, Lisbon, Madrid-Waddington, Massena, Morristown, Norwood-Norfolk, Parishville-Hopkinton, Potsdam, and Salmon River.

Isaac Snell, a local potter, and Hilary Emerson Lay, a local painter, generously offered their services to jury the exhibit. Students were awarded gold, silver, and bronze certificates for works in each category.

The award winning Art students were from all over the county.

Exhibit medalists were as follows: Brasher Falls: Ashley Deshane, Sophia Guerard, Jennah Strawser, Ruby Passon; Canton: Gavin Thompson, Daniel O'Neil, Emma Wisniewski, and Abby Kerrigan; Clifton-Fine: Adam Szlamzynski and Jaedyn Adams; Gouverneur: Lexi Bradshaw, Afton Riley, and Janaya Fuller; Heuvelton: Richard Nichols; Lisbon: Sandy Bolesh and Keghan Power; Madrid-Waddington- Annika Zysik; Norwood-Norfolk: MaKenna King and Isabel Morse; Parishville-Hopkinton: Teagan Sheldon, Mary-Grace Guiney, Wilton Eldridge, Neil Brown, Jeff Crump; Potsdam: Lleyton Hourihan, Margaret Carroll, Annabelle Morrin, and Kennedy Wilson and Salmon River, Ashley Ghostlaw and Cady Wells.

In addition to the exhibit, student musicians from Potsdam Central and Lisbon Central provided entertainment throughout the evening. From Potsdam we enjoyed the string duo of Rainar Anderson on cello and Michael Amell on bass, the piano stylings of sixth graders Abby Hughes and Keely Towne and the AAK Show Choir who performed several fun musical numbers. From Lisbon we had solo singer and guitarist Alexa Trimm, who entertained with beautiful renditions of popular songs.

The event also included face painting by high school students from PCS, MCS, and NNCSD. Face painters included Marie Amell, Abby Tessier, Becca Hasenauer, Jamile Asmar and Liz Pages. The show invitation was designed by Potsdam High School senior Carl Hayes- a big thanks go out to all .

For all of your support, a special thank you goes out to: SLL BOCES: Mr. Thomas Burns, Mr. Ronald Burke, the IT and Maintenance Departments; Todd Supply, Star Lake; SLC Arts Council; District Superintendents, Principals, School Boards, PTO’s, and Unions for their support

We look forward to next year’s event and are extremely grateful to everyone who contributed!

NCATA Executive Board: Jason Hubbard. Ashley Eipp, Lisa Warner and Kristin Towne.