Grants feed artistic growth in Addison schools

These art projects deserve more than just space on the refrigerator and a few magnets to hold them in place.

That's why Indian Trail Junior High and Driscoll Catholic High schools, both in Addison, have each dedicated an entire wall for new murals created by students and an artist-in-residence.

For almost four months, Brookfield artist Sonata Kazimieraitiene has been working to create a mural at each school with the help of students. She's also led workshops for teachers, the Indian Trail art club and members of the Addison Arts Guild.

At Indian Trail, Kazimieraitiene and the students painted a mural based on architectural designs of the world, and the project incorporates clay elements, too. They were finishing it up this month, while the Driscoll project was completed earlier this year.

Indian Trail art teacher Heather Pintz says the project has instilled pride in her students.

"It is a lot more personal and authentic to them and it's something they feel invested in," Pintz said. "They can say 'I painted that part of the cityscape' or 'I made that flower.'"

Kazimieraitiene's talents came to Addison courtesy of a grant from the Illinois Arts Council that totaled more than $11,000. The Addison Cultural Arts Commission applied for the grant and paid more than $7,000 for the stipend and supplies. Both Indian Trail and Driscoll also contributed $750 each to help offset costs.

"I feel it was a very worthwhile effort," said Annette Leiber, president of Addison Center of the Arts.

Leiber, who writes the grant applications, said Addison has earned more residencies than any town in Illinois since 1982, and those have included artists who concentrate in theater, music, creative writing and dance.

"We feel it is one of the best things we've had to offer our students for all of these years," she said. "We have many lasting things in our community because of this."

Next month, the arts commission will find out if they've been awarded another artist-in-residence grant for the 2008-09 school year. If so, that artist will work with students from St. Joseph Catholic, Fullerton and Lake Park schools.

"We try to rotate schools so that everyone has this wonderful experience," Leiber said.