Summer camp students at Columbus St. Mary School in the German Village area created artwork that is currently being displayed in the museum at the Ohio History Center as a service to the community.

The pieces from students from ages three to 11 represent the children’s favorite places or things in Ohio.

The idea for the exhibit came when Hannah Lewis, St. Mary’s director of marketing and communications, was planning service projects for the summer camp students.

“Katie Gibboney, who’s our summer camp director, has themes for each week (of summer),” Lewis said. “They were going to Ohio History Center for one of the weeks, so I thought, ‘I wonder if there’s a service project we could do (there).’”

Lewis collaborated with Katie Nowack, the Ohio History Center’s program manager, who suggested displaying art created by the children.

“Isn’t that a service?” Lewis said. “Showing beautiful art.”

Alexa Thomas, a student entering fourth grade this fall at Columbus St. Mary School, talks about the artwork created during a summer camp project that is being exhibited in the museum at the Ohio History Center. Photo courtesy Sarah Irvin Public Relations

Gibboney said a field trip to the Ohio History Center the day before creating the artwork gave the students ideas for their pieces.

“As we were walking through some of the exhibits,” Gibboney said, “I (told the kids), ‘Be thinking about what you like about this museum, what you like about our school, what you like about our state,’ you know really trying to get them to think.

“Sometimes we have a very narrow opinion of artwork, so I was trying to show them different pieces and different exhibits. … The kids were really engaged in that field trip.”

The pieces are arranged in an area of the museum called Creative Ohio, where artwork from members of the community is debuted. In addition to having their work displayed, the students learned about how art makes its way to a museum.

“We wanted to teach them a little bit about the museum process,” Nowack said. “They filled out a loan agreement, information about an exhibit label, (and) they did a scavenger hunt while they were here to learn a little bit more about Ohio history.”

Myron Gordon, an eight-year-old who attends St. Mary during the school year as well as for summer camp, drew and decorated a car for his piece after learning about old models of cars in Ohio’s history.

“I like the way the cars (looked) back then,” he said. “I did the gems on the wheels and a red dot for the headlights.

Another eight-year-old, Rylea Porter, was inspired by the sandy areas she has seen throughout Ohio.

“Me and my cousins went (to a sandy spot) and there was red and pink,” she said. “I didn’t draw water, (but) some of the yellow is the sun in the sky.”

In the center of the St. Mary display is a large wood cutout in the shape of Ohio, with feathers, colored popsicles sticks and other craft pieces glued on.

“The big Ohio piece was (created by) our preschool and preK camp students working together,” Gibboney said. “They don’t come on field trips with us, but they follow our weekly themes.” 

The fact that the artwork service project did not require a donation made it appealing to many campers’ parents.

“We have some low-income families, so sometimes when we talk about service, it doesn’t feel appropriate for them because they’re struggling,” Gibboney said. “So when … artwork and being creative can be a way we’re serving our community and they don’t have to give anything, that can be a really great way for them to see that they can make an impact in the world and in our community.” 

The Ohio History Center, which was chartered in 1885, is located at 800 E. 17th Ave. in Columbus and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

 The St. Mary students’ artwork will be displayed through Saturday, Aug. 17. 

Elizabeth Pardi is a Columbus resident and  contributor to The Catholic Times.