Sisters student’s art celebrated at State Fair

Maddie Durham, a third-grader at Sisters Elementary School, was honored during a reception held at the Oregon State Fair along with 12 other students on August 25. Maddie’s artwork was selected from 2,100 entries submitted to the AITC Calendar Art Contest, sponsored by Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation (AITC). The AITC Calendar Art Contest showcases Oregon’s diverse agricultural and natural-resource commodities.

This year, artwork was submitted by students kindergarten through sixth grade across the state in public, private, charter and homeschool education systems. The entries received celebrated Oregon’s diverse agriculture with artwork depicting a wide variety of Oregon’s 220 agricultural commodities.

Maddie’s artwork featured a wheat field being combined and can be viewed on the July page of the calendar. In describing her artwork, Maddie said, “I choose to draw a combine in a wheat field with blue skies, the sun shining bright and one lonely cloud because of a field trip where I learned all about wheat fields and Oregon agriculture.” A highlight of the experience that prompted her artwork was being able to sit in the combine on the field trip.

Maddie also said “I would like to thank Ms. Kanzig for informing me about the coloring contest and taking me on an agriculture field trip!”

“The calendar contest is a great project for teachers and students. It gives them an opportunity to teach and discuss about the bounty and beauty of Oregon agriculture and incorporate art into their classrooms,” said Jessica Jansen, AITC executive director. Each month in the calendar features one of the winning students’ art, and each day of the year has a fact about agriculture.

The 13 students selected to be featured in our 2019-2020 calendar received a $50 award and certificate. The winning artwork will be displayed at the Oregon State Fair, which runs through Labor Day in Salem. Calendars are free to Oregon teachers, and can be ordered for just $4 at http://www.oregonaitc.org/shop.