Students paint downtown Sisters

From paintings of a snowboarding Christmas tree ornament to a picture of a snowman exercising, the Sisters community will enjoy student art on downtown business windows throughout the holidays.

Last week, Sisters Elementary School fifth graders braved freezing temperatures to add their colorful holiday inspired art to businesses including Soba Noodles & Rice, Martolli’s Pizza, Garden of Eden, Eurosports and Your $12.99 Store.

“Paint was freezing in the cup,” said teacher Clay Warburton who initiated the project several years ago.

Warburton wants to make the window painting project a learning experience for his students, as well as provide enjoyable art for shoppers in downtown Sisters.

“I do want to make sure that we continue with the quality of our art,” said Warburton.

First students draw a design for a window.

“Our teacher wants us to focus on the holidays more than Christmas,” said fifth grader Riley Barrett.

Then Warburton pairs a boy and a girl and asks them to collaborate to produce one design. This process brings both traditional images of Christmas such as angels and lively interpretations such as a chick wearing an elf hat.

“We want people to look at our art and smile,” said Warburton.

The day before the students paint, Warburton draws the outlines on the windows as a guide. This cold winter, he especially appreciated the parents who helped paint the outlines – a process which took four hours.

Last Thursday, the three fifth grade classes at Sisters Elementary painted in the colors during lunch hour, then headed to Barclay Park to warm up with some hot chocolate. Along with Mr. W’s class, as his students call him, the painters included students in Kathy Powell and Jennifer Hopp’s classes. The end result is 35 festive windows downtown plus painted windows at the school.

The businesses enjoyed the original spirit of the students’ art.

“We always like to support the kids and their projects,” said Robin Tawney, manager of Garden of Eden. “We love it!”