Student Exhibit proves children are most valuable natural resource

On the heels of Earth Day, as breakfast table conversation has shifted from “pass the bacon” to swine flu pandemics and counting carbon footprints rather than counting carbs, it would seem green is officially the new black. Americans are finally paying attention to our most valuable resources in a serious way.

During the last Great Depression, America revitalized itself by turning its attention to national parks and public works. And, long before anyone knew about global warming, Herbert Hoover proclaimed, “Children are our most valuable natural resource.”

This Saturday, a select group of student artists will demonstrate what a valuable natural resource the city of Buffalo has in its children. The “Writing With Light 2009 Exhibition” opens on May 2 at CEPA Gallery in the Market Arcade, 617 Main Street, from 5:30-8pm, and runs until June 14.

Featuring the unique photography and poetry of students from Highgate Heights #80, Frederick Law Olmsted School #64 and #56, as well as Our Lady of Black Rock School, the exhibit highlights the most outstanding work produced during arts-in-education programs conducted by Just Buffalo Literary Center and CEPA Gallery. This year’s team of teaching artists included Robin Brox and Karen Lewis as well as Sherry Robbins, lead teaching artist for Just Buffalo, and Amy Meza Luraschi, lead teaching artist for CEPA Gallery.

Be forewarned: There is nothing childish in these artworks, no Disney-fied tween angst in the bunch. The individual themes from each school attest to how deeply these young minds are leading the way in thinking about natural resources. Fifth- and sixth-graders at Our Lady of Black Rock focused on “Growth” while fifth-grade students from Highgate Heights concentrated on the concept of “Respect.” At Olmsted #56, sixth-grade students explored their potential to “Create the World You Want to Live In.”

Writing With Light, which encompasses the education programs of both Just Buffalo Literary Center and CEPA Gallery, began a few years ago with the pilot collaborative program, Picturing Poetry. The concept might seem simple enough—place a camera and a pen in a student’s hands and stand back—but the results are anything but simple.

The Writing With Light Exhibit displays just how much wisdom and wit, innocence and insight an adolescent mind possesses. Twelve-year-old Jonviér, an Olmsted student, offers a self-portrait, her shadowed silhouette peering pensively out the window, her poem pondering, “a shadow of darkness covers the earth / But one thing that stands out is / hope.” Déjà, a fifth-grader from Highgate Heights, describes: “trees / Stand tall / Not being afraid of / What awaits / Them.” Our Lady of Black Rock student, Irenee, photographing a spider plant from underneath, writes: “It is art not just / a picture. / It spreads / like a bird in the air.”

Come to be inspired. Come to be surprised. Come to see just how much one can learn from looking through the eyes of our most valuable resources.

—barbara cole