Mayor, First Lady present awards to student artists

By Pam Schiff
Posted 3/8/17

By PAM SCHIFF Back in December, with the promise of holidays, school vacations and winter fun, Cranston's First Lady, Barbara Ann Fenton, initiated the First Lady's Arts Awards." Fenton came up with the idea near the holidays and thought it would be a"

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Mayor, First Lady present awards to student artists

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Back in December, with the promise of holidays, school vacations and winter fun, Cranston’s First Lady, Barbara Ann Fenton, initiated the “First Lady’s Arts Awards.”

Fenton came up with the idea near the holidays and thought it would be a nice way to connect the city’s schoolchildren with the arts and local government. The plan is to make it an annual event.

With a theme of “Holidays in Cranston,” the contest was opened to all Cranston artists of all ages. Submissions were to be no larger than 11 by 14 inches and could be done in any medium the artist chose. Entries were accepted until Jan. 3, and all submissions were on display throughout City Hall through February. The art brightened up the mayor’s offices for several weeks this winter, and officials and visitors alike enjoyed viewing the art from the talented Cranston schoolchildren.

Originally, a winner for each age category would be selected, but since word got out late and all the nearly 40 entries were so great, everyone ended up winning this year.

Mayor Fung and Fenton have taken all the submissions, mounted them on board stock and signed the boards as a thank you. The idea is that parents will think about framing or hanging their students’ work with the mayor and Fenton’s words of thanks as a memento.

"Allan and I had such a great time on Friday night hanging out with our 12 winners and their families over Awful Awfuls, sundaes, Super Chippers and Cow'Wiches. Each winner, ranging from ages 5 to 14 and spanning all across the city, had their artwork framed and signed by us, and we made sure to take pictures before the hot fudge got all over their faces. These kids were really talented, and we can't wait for our next contest to meet even more of our budding artists across the city," said Fenton.

The plan next year will be to promote the contest a bit sooner and see if there can be a collaboration with some of the school art teachers to get them onboard, which would help with the students getting the art done during their vacations.

For those who were interested, Fenton had a chocolate Oreo Awful Awful and the mayor went with the double scoop chocolate hot fudge sundae (no whipped cream).

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