Haywood County art teachers gained a boost to their teaching wish lists when members of the QuickDraw Committee met to award mini-grants to county elementary middle school, and senior high art teachers. The grants were given a the Haywood County School Board meeting in October to fund original creative teaching ideas in school art programs. The grants enable art teachers to brainstorm and design school specific projects to enhance their teaching curriculum, and often tie in with academic coursework. The art grants are funded through QuickDraw, an annual art fundraiser, renowned for its lively atmosphere of creation and the chance to meet prominent artists and buy their works.
Art experience is the gift that keeps on giving, according to Faye Wagoner, QuickDraw co-chair. “Students say, ‘I can do this!, and by golly, they do!” QuickDraw helps art teachers with project funding and provides a creative spark beyond the regular curricula, often enabling art students to reinforce academic themes from other subjects. Students get new projects to develop creative thinking, and college-bound seniors get financial help to pursue art-related career paths.
Since QuickDraw’s inception, $32,000 in teacher grants and $13,000 in scholarships have been donated to benefit art teaching in the schools. According to Steve Brown, executive director of the Haywood County Schools Foundation, this is the ninth year that teachers have applied fo and received funds through the Foundation from QuickDraw donations. QuickDraw’s art scholarships will be awarded in May at the annual Schools Foundation function honoring scholars and athletes receiving scholarship assistance through the Foundation.
QuickDraw’s lively art-while-you-watch event lets regional artists step up for art teaching. Guests watch artists create original art during a sixty-minute countdown (some go from blank canvas to finished painting). Guests stroll around the event, marveling to observe the process. After mounting and framing on the spot, the QuickDraw art is sold at the event, which includes a buffet and auction. “The live demonstration is a ‘wow’ experience,” said Sandra Hayes fo the QuickDraw committee. “You see architectural construction of a work, layer upon layer, as these artists build pieces that, by rights, should take days or weeks to make. The event’s other legs are the auction and a meet-the-artists buffet, just plain fun all around.”
Artist donate half or more of their sale to QuickDraw, and proceeds support art teaching. Last year’s event funded three college scholarships for high school seniors and funded mini-grant proposals from every art teacher in the county schools.
A popular charity event that kicks off spring’s art season, QuickDraw is held the last Saturday of April each year. QuickDraw 2010 is slated for Saturday, April 30, at Laurel Ridge Country Club in Waynesville. Over 30 professional artists will work live at the event. For more information, contact QuickDraw at 456-6584 or visit www.wncquickdraw.com
