And This is Why Art Matters

41st Annual Statewide PTA Reflections art show

From left, Sisters Katie Noyes, 8, and Annie Noyes, 6, browse selections at the
PTA Reflections art show held Monday night at Gilbert Hood Middle School.

By CAROL ROBIDOUX
Union Leader Correspondent
DERRY -- Anyone who has considered that art education might not be an essential part of a school’s curriculum should first ask Team Greenwood what it meant to them to attend Monday night’s PTA Reflections exhibition.
A family of art aficionados, they were huddled around a television screen Monday night inside the Gilbert H. 

Painting by Andrew Robinson of Timberlane HS.

Hood gymnasium, awaiting the world premiere of “My Pet Fish, Seaglass,” a short film by Hannah Greenwood, a thirdgrader at Barron School in Salem. After that, they watched “St. John’s Red Storm,” an equally short film by her brother, Alexander Greenwood. 
“It’s a proud moment,” said their mom, Kristin Greenwood, who says her children totally inherited their artistic genes from their grandfather. 
They were two of nearly 2,000 students from around the state whose artwork was submitted for this year’s show. 
Every entry, whether literature, fine art, photography, film, musical composition or dance/choreography, had to fit in with this year’s theme, “Together We Can.” For student artist Andrew Robinson of Timberlane High School, that theme inspired a dramatic painting featuring a soldier receiving a kiss on the cheek from a child, who was in the arms of his father, presumably a citizen of a war torn country. 
In the artist’s own words, as written on the back of the firstplace entry: “The stronger the bond between different races, genders and religions, the stronger the unity of the world becomes.” 
According to Reflections Chairman Sally Bertrand, 23 of the first-place entries will go on for judging in the National PTA art show, with winners announced in May. 
Work by this year’s winners will be posted online in June. 
To see work by previous years winners, or to learn more about the program, go to www. ptareflections.org. 

Nolan Preble of Hampstead Central checks out the
competition during Monday night's PTA Reflections statewide art show.