Firehouse Art Center Receives Landmark Nomination for “Green Wave” Project

The Firehouse Art Center recently earned a nomination as a finalist in the “Community Effort” division of awards from Keep Oklahoma Beautiful.  Normally, the organization only considers environmental clean-up efforts, but last spring’s Green Wave Project at the Firehouse was considered a worthy nominee for the combination of art education with environmental lessons for the community’s children.

The Green Wave was a collaborative effort between the FAC and local schools McKinley, Truman, Monroe, Irving, and All Saints to promote art education within the community.  Mayor Cindy Rosenthal, Director of Fine Arts for Norman Public Schools Brad Benson, and Councilmen Hal Ezell and Tom Kovach also participated in the project.  Sculptors Douglas Shaw Elder (FAC Executive Director) and Richard McKown designed and developed the project and FAC Children’s Art Coordinator, Jane Lawson, taught the sessions.

Ms. Lawson exposed the children to great artworks of past and current masters such as Hokusai, Joseph Albers, Ellsworth Kelly, and Sandy Skoglund to teach them about shapes and forms and the color value range within each work.  As the children worked to create their “school of fish,” Ms. Lawson also taught the children about the effects of run-off water that wash pollutants into water sources and contaminate the earth’s water supplies.  The Green Wave concept taught these children about clean water, recycling and responsible living practices while they learned about art theories and explored their creativity.

Although the Keep Oklahoma Beautiful award in this category went to the Tulsa Drillers Downtown Cleanup, the Firehouse nomination was a milestone in that it is rare for an ar

t-focused project to be nominated, as well as a nomination being for something other than a clean-up effort.  If you missed the Green Wave exhibit last May and June, you can still see photos from the show on the Firehouse website home page www.normanfirehouse.com, under the gallery exhibits tab.

ABOUT THE NORMAN FIREHOUSE ART CENTER – The Norman Firehouse Art Center, Inc. is a non-profit organization that serves Norman and surrounding communities by offering visual art classes for students of all ages, as well as gallery exhibitions of the highest quality.  Firehouse Art Center is a Norman Arts Council member.