If anyone doubts the artistic ability of Carroll County students, let them visit the Great Hall of Carroll Community College, where hundreds of drawings, paintings, prints, paper cuts, foil reliefs and photographs grace the walls.
The artwork belongs to Carroll County public school students in first through 12th grades, as well as alumni of the five high schools who have taken up art as a career.
The exhibit, which formally opens with a reception from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, is the school system's annual celebration of Youth Art Month in March.
"This is the first time in Carroll County that we have shown sequentially everything we teach in the schools," said Linda Van Hart, South Carroll High School art teacher and project coordinator.
A visit to the Great Hall will let parents, family and friends see what students are doing in art class.
Starting from the left side of the Great Hall on the lower level, artwork of elementary grade students is displayed. Pieces include a foil relief medieval shield by first-grader Adam Brodowski from Spring Garden Elementary School and a very detailed pencil sketch of a Main Street house by Mount Airy Elementary School fifth-grader Rachel King.
The art shows talent in the use of color, shape, texture and subject.
Turning to the right side of the lower level, the work of middle school students shows increasing ability, such as a colorful paper fruit still life by Jason Lehigh, an eighth-grader at Northwest Middle School.
Directly above on the right upper level is the high school art. The artwork includes striking portraits, paintings of landscapes and imaginative abstracts, calligraphy and colorful mosaics.
Two eye-catching pieces are Roxanne Paull's calligraphy of a Shakespeare piece next to Emily Hershberger's medieval-style painting of a man and woman. Both are South Carroll High School seniors.
The final segment of the display features the professional works of alumni who have made art their livelihood -- photographs, portraits, paintings and drawings of people and animals, and unique collages.
A number of sculptures from all groups are included in the show, Ms. Van Hart said.
"We're trying to train students to be visually literate -- to read the images they see and appreciate them," Ms. Van Hart said. "To artists, museums are like libraries for those who read."
Since 1982, the Youth Art Month project has included an alumnus of each of the county's five high schools as honorees in the Art Honors Alumni! program, started by Ms. Van Hart.
"The program is a coup de gras," Ms. Van Hart said. "I had the idea to honor a student from each feeder school to represent the excellence of the art program -- men and women who have selected art as a career."
This year's honorees are Jeffrey Sharp, photographer and artist, Liberty High; Kerstin Neteler, graphic designer, North Carroll
High; Alan Potter, artist, South Carroll High; Jalna Welsh Brown, florist, Westminster High; John Sosnowsky, jeweler and composer, Francis Scott Key High.
Mr. Sosnowsky will perform one of his compositions during the reception Sunday.
Past honorees also were invited to participate in the show. Responses were received from nine who sent examples of their work.
"The neat thing about this program is that the students will bring their families and they'll talk to professional artists and learn that a career in art is real and achieveable," Ms. Van Hart said. "And the alumni can meet others from the area who they may not have had any contact with before, so it's a chance for them to see what others are doing."
The Youth Art Month exhibit will be at Carroll Community College through March 14. The Great Hall is open for viewing from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Information: Ms. Van Hart at South Carroll, 795-8500, or the college, 876-9639.