A+ Artwork

Elliot Daingerfield, Edward Szmyd, Anna Zanon.

Art aficionados might recognize the first two names, but the latter is a newcomer – in the purest sense of the word – to the field.

Zanon is a kindergartener at Two Rivers Community School, but her painting hangs alongside those of Daingerfield and Szmyd at Blowing Rock Frameworks & Gallery.

It’s the Blowing Rock gallery’s third annual student showcase, featuring artwork from students spanning kindergarten through eighth grade at Two Rivers Community School.

Started by Blowing Rock Frameworks owner Tim Miller to recognize young artists and the art program at Two Rivers, the show features 18 original pieces from the High Country’s freshest artists.
Visitors to the gallery can vote on their favorite pieces, and the winners bring home a cash prize and gift certificates to area restaurants. But there’s more.

“I’m donating all the framing,” said Miller, who personally frames all the students’ artwork. “ I really do enjoy watching these kids light up when they see their framed pieces of art on the wall in a real gallery, right next to other artists’. It’s cool seeing these lively young artists have their pieces up with the professionals’ and some 120-year-old antique paintings.”

And the kids get to keep their framed artwork, likely foregoing the refrigerator for a prime spot on the living room wall.

Blowing Rock Frameworks will host a reception on Saturday, Nov. 12, from noon to 3 p.m., with prizes being doled out at 3 p.m. Along with congratulations, refreshments will be served.
“It’s just a way to promote these young, budding artists,” Miller said.

Featured artists include kindergarteners Anna Zanon, Zac Dickens and Addison Schochid, first-graders Zea Marty and Sarah Trefz, second-graders Sidra Miller and Kazia Orkiszewski, third-graders Ben Zanon and Kacie Rominger, fourth-graders Galen Miller and Samara Carlough, fifth-graders Sadye Franklin and Emma Tzotschew, sixth-graders Lily Pilkington and Hanna Trefz, seventh-grader Alden McClure and eighth-graders Kaitlyn Staufer and Josef Goebeler.

Blowing Rock Frameworks & Gallery is located at 7539 Valley Blvd., next to Food Lion, in Blowing Rock. For more information, call (828) 295-0041 or visit http://www.blowingrockgalleries.com.