Field Trips

Art Trail can help area schools with art education in several ways, including: a. by exhibiting student work and b. Hosting of field trips. Our painted rock exhibit includes student work as well as examples by teachers and local artists. A few years from Perry, Charlotte, Pembroke and Alexander Elementary Schools, a rotating art teacher and an artist collaborated on our grant supported rock painting project. The students first exhibited the rocks at their own schools. Afterwards, the painted rocks were transferred to our glass enclosed, outdoor display cases. When the students came to see their exhibits on class field trips or with their families, they were quite curious to see what their “competition” had done. Subsequently, many students reclaimed their painted rocks. A sampling of the remainder as well as the instructor work is still displayed at the Art Trail. Rock painting exercises can range from elementary student to complex ones for college students. We hosted a session where prep school art students were in friendly competition with international students from University of Maine at Machias. Some students appreciate a reminder that “rock art is a very old, powerful and beautiful form of writing through pictures.” Elizabeth Ostrander also noted that “before there were words or alphabets, there was rock art.” During another field trip last September the Alexander students brought their sketch pads and some cameras.