Birth Of
an artistic dream
PHOTO BY CASSIE JACOBY
Polk State Lake Wales Art Center teacher Ann Norton, who started the 44th Annual Lake Wales Student Art Show, instructs Cari Pellegrini Iglesias how to create ceramic art.
PHOTO BY CASSIE JACOBY
Art student Jake Wilson uses a clay coil extruder for a class taught by art teacher Ann Norton at the Polk State Lake Wales Arts Center.
PHOTO BY CASSIE JACOBY
Lake Wales Student Art Show founder Ann Norton and current chair Melody McKenna open the show at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Mar. 23 at the Lake Wales Depot Museum. The show runs through April 6.
The “mother” of the Lake Wales Student Art Show gave “birth” to the first show 44 years ago. In 1968, when Ann Norton was the first full time art teacher at the junior high school in Lake Wales, she wanted to show off the talent of her students.
“I thought ‘gee, their work is so beautiful,’” the youthful 84-year-old recalled. “We were placing the artwork on easels in the cafetorium at PTA meetings and I thought ‘we have to do better than this.’”
