COLUMBUS GROVE — Freshman Madison Neidert easily chose an art class over industrial arts and judging by her art work on display Saturday at the Putnam County Arts Festival it’s easy to tell why.
Neidert, a student at Fort Jennings High School, had on display a scratchboard work showing her cat and a pencil drawing of herself that won an award.
“I just really like my cat and because my cat is white it was really easy to scratch him out in the black,” she said.
Neidert’s art were two of about 250 pieces of art on display at the festival that ranged from paintings, pottery and wirework. Children in grades kindergarten through 12th from the nine public and two parochial schools in Putnam County participated, said Melissa Basinger, the elementary curriculum coordinator for the Putnam County Educational Service Center.
The event, in its third year, was held at Columbus Grove schools.
“The Putnam Arts Festival is to celebrate the arts and showcase the fantastic work of our students in the county,” Basinger said.
Various ribbons were awarded including 15 purple ribbons to artwork at the high school level that a visiting judge chose as the best at the show.
“She said it was very difficult because there were so many beautiful pieces here,” Basinger said.
Numerous people viewed the art work including many waiting to see the All-County Band and Choir Show perform. The band and choir are made up of 150 children from the nine public schools and chosen for their talents at an audition last year, said Gary Herman, the high school curriculum coordinator at the service center.
“It’s a great opportunity for the kids to be recognized,” Herman said. “It’s a great opportunity for them to come together and work with other student musicians throughout the county.”
More than 600 people showed up to watch the musical showcase.
Those chosen practiced for a couple of weeks, about 10 hours total, at Bluffton University. It also gave the children a chance to explore a college music program to see if its something they want to pursue after high school, he said.
“It’s a good opportunity for them to get on a university campus and see what it’s like,” Herman said.
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