2003 Michigan 4-H Children's Art Exchange

“Art is Power.”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow*

Fifty-nine pieces of children's art from thirteen Michigan counties appear in this exhibit. Each child whose art appears here has created an image that speaks of the power of art – the ability of art to make a statement, to express an idea or to tell a story.

"Dream Shine" is a painting by a 10-year-old girl from Kalamazoo. Each unique flower in the fancifully painted pot makes a statement about life. One large pink flower sparkles, one tiny flower can barely be seen and one flower casually spills over the pot edge.

"The Gathering," by an 11-year-old from Charlevoix, is more than a statement about gathering berries, it is also a statement about friendship and working together.

"Legends," from a 10-year-old boy from Otsego, is an imaginative and complex drawing filled with five fantasy creatures who face the viewer. One small, brave knight in red, with his sword raised, is prepared to do battle. There is power in this child's story.

All of the artwork asks the viewer to linger and to find the statement, idea or story expressed within it.

The artwork in this exhibit was selected from hundreds of paintings and drawings created by children from all over Michigan for the 2003 4-H Children's Art Exchange with the People's Republic of China. Each year children in kindergarten to sixth grade – in formal and nonformal educational settings – are invited to participate in this global art experience.

 

For more information on how to become involved in the 4-H Children's Art Exchange, contact your county Michigan State University Extension office for details. Your county office is listed in the government section of your telephone book under your county name.

* One of America's most popular poets of the middle to late 1800s, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in 1807 in Portland, Maine, and died in 1882 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Among his best-known poems are "The Song of Hiawatha," "Paul Revere's Ride" and "The Village Blacksmith."