FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Springfield, MO. (March 15, 2016) – The Springfield Art Museum presents an artful weekend for all ages. Every March, we invite student artists from across our community, in kindergarten through twelfth grades, to exhibit outstanding artwork in the “All School Exhibition.” A celebration of Youth Art Month, this highly anticipated show has been a staple of our exhibition schedule for over forty years.
As the art teachers who work with these students know, art is a powerful educational tool. In addition to creativity and self-expression, the arts teach problem solving, critical thinking, innovation, and collaboration. Artwork created by children and teenagers is often relegated to education wings or hallways when it is displayed in museums. By showcasing students' work in one of its primary gallery spaces, the Springfield Art Museum seeks to highlight the importance of arts education and honor the accomplishments of young artists.
The exhibit also reflects the work of the incredibly talented teachers in our community, many of whom are practicing artists themselves. Faculty members from public, private and parochial schools select artwork for exhibition, and a dedicated team of teachers and students from Springfield Public Schools installs the art in the galleries. That installation work is currently underway and middle and high school student artists will enjoy an opening reception on Friday, March 18 from 5:30 -7:30 PM. The public is welcome to this free reception; however the exhibition officially opens on Saturday, March 19.
On Sunday, March 20 it is the elementary student artists’ opportunity to be applauded at the elementary reception from 1 – 5 PM. This vibrant, colorful, expressive show will be on display until Sunday, May 8th. Admission to the museum is always free, so come out and support these young local artists at this annual favorite.
Joining the excitement on Sunday, March 20th, is “Oil and Marble” author Stephanie Storey, who will lead a book talk in the Museum’s auditorium. “Oil and Marble” is a historical fiction novel about the legendary rivalry between Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. From 1501-1505, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo lived and worked in Florence. Leonardo was a charming, handsome fifty year-old at the peak of his career. Michelangelo was a temperamental, unknown sculptor in his mid-twenties, desperate to make a name for himself. “Oil and Marble” is a fictional account of the rivalry that drove these two great masters to create their iconic masterpieces, the Mona Lisa and the David, all set against a backdrop of the violent, deceitful yet inspired world of the Italian Renaissance. Maxwell Carter of The New York Times raves, “Tremendously entertaining and ‘unapologetic’ in its artistic license, ‘Oil and Marble’ will remind an older generation of the pleasures of Irving Stone’s art historical fiction, particularly his chronicle of the Sistine Chapel ceiling commission, ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’.”
A veteran TV producer originally from Hot Springs, AR, “Oil and Marble” is Storey’s first novel. It has already sold out of its first printing; however copies are still available at the Springfield Barnes & Noble. Storey is represented by Skyhorse/Arcade Publishing. The book talk is free and open to the public.
See the All School exhibition and listen to Stephanie Storey this weekend at the Springfield Art Museum, located at 1111 E. Brookside Drive. Admission is always free.
###
The Springfield Art Museum is Springfield, Missouri’s oldest cultural institution, founded in 1928. A department of the City of Springfield, we are dedicated to enhancing the education and documenting the cultural heritage of the people of southwest Missouri through the collection, preservation, and exhibition of art objects. For more information, please visit www.sgfmuseum.org
For more information, please contact Joshua Best, Development and Marketing Coordinator, 417-837-5700 ext. 224 or jbest@springfieldmo.gov.
For more information on Stephanie Storey or “Oil and Marble,” please visit www.oilandmarble.com or contact Brianna Scharfenberg at Skyhorse/Arcade Publishing at bscharfenberg@skyhorsepublishing.com or Storey’s personal publicist, Allison Dykstra at allisonjoy@dykstra.com