Comments (0) Best Student Art Program - 2009
FotoFence
FotoFest likes to start them young — as photographers and as fans. Its student art program FotoFence, a Literacy Through Photography project, had 2,500 kids in 22 Houston-area schools producing some surprising results. Working with professional photographers and arts educators, students from fifth through twelfth grades wrote essays and created posters, photo-blogs, self-portraits, collages and mixed-media artwork. The assignment? "Reflect the world around you." The students responded with work that revealed their secrets and dreams, such as having a chronic disease ("My scar has been a speed bump...") or becoming an engineer ("I am a math expert"). Others were a little more fanciful ("I am the king of Neptune!!" and "When I'm crazy I'm a Rabbit with no fur wearing a bikini"). An exhibit at the FotoFest gallery, where 500 students displayed artwork and read their writings to a seriously impressed public (plus a few proud moms and dads, we're sure), closed out the project for the year. Now, back to that bikini-wearing rabbit...
