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Troy Art Club ornaments an amazing success |
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December 2, 2017 |
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| Members of
the Troy Art Club and Troy Schools Art
Director Mrs. Jeanie Palmer. sitting at
far left. Hunter Lighty, holding the
ornament set and standing next to Mrs.
Palmer, and Abby Osborn, holding the set
on the right, went above and beyond in
the club's ongoing Capitol Christmas
Tree ornament project. |
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By Mike Weland
When she first learned that the 2017 National
Christmas Tree was going to be harvested on the
Kootenai National Forest (KNF), U.S. Forest
Service National Environmental Policy Act
coordinator Lisa Osborn knew that the tree
wouldn't be complete without ornaments, so she
put out a call for artists from throughout the
KNF to bring forth their best work.
And she was well pleased with the response,
sending around 5,000 locally crafted pieces of
art along with the
79 foot tall Engelmann Spruce on its trip the
Washington DC, where, next Wednesday, December
6, that glorious tree, with its myriad
ornaments, will be lit up in a ceremony on the
West Lawn. A contingent from Troy will be
heading east on Monday.
Of those 5,000 ornaments,
each a whopping
10-inches tall minimum to fit the grandeur of
the tree, around 200 of them were made by
members of the Troy Art Club, comprised of 22
Troy junior high and high school students,
working under the guidance of district art
director Jeanie Palmer.
Surprisingly, very few of their ornaments, fired
and glazed clay images of the three species of
trout; cutthroat, rainbow and bull trout, will
adorn the tree. Instead, the entire project took
on an unimagined life of its own.
"We started working on our ornaments last
spring," Mrs. Palmer said, "learning by trial
and error. We came up with the idea and the
design, then worked out how to make 200 of them,
through the cutting and pressing to the first
firing to the glazing and coloring and finally
the second firing. It started out to be labor
intensive and time consuming, as only a few
ornaments could fit in our kiln at one time, but
eventually we worked out a system."
Before long, all 200 were finished, and, along
with all the other ornaments that were
submitted, went through an informal judging
process.
"With the Capitol Christmas Tree, traditionally
the best ornaments are picked out to be sent to
the offices of U.S. Senators and Congressmen as
invitations to the tree lighting ceremony," Mrs.
Palmer said, "and it turns out most of ours,
instead of going on the tree, went to several
offices."
Thinking the project was done and thinking of
new projects they might turn their hand to, and,
as is almost always the case for groups such as
the Troy Art Club, someone made the comment how
nice those ornaments would look scaled down to
fit their own Christmas Trees. With an arts and
craft fair coming up, they developed a smaller
version of their national tree ornaments, each
four inches long. Thinking big, they made 100.
And sold out at amazing speed.
"People were excited, it's artistic and the kids
were having fun, making it a great fund raising
project," Mrs. Palmer said, "and it just
ballooned!"
With help from community volunteers, including
those enrolled in an adult education pottery
class, students in the Troy Art Club began
turning them out. On the back of each is written
the species the ornament represents and
"Almost every year, we rely on fundraisers for
art materials for different projects, an annual
scholarship and we try to save up for one art
retreat so students can experience art and
culture beyond our remote area," Mrs. Palmer
said. "We usually go somewhere not too far away,
like Portland. Once they saw how successful the
ornaments were, and having no seniors in the
club, members decided to postpone a trip this
school year in hopes of going someplace really
special next year!"
The effort has reached the status of a community
project and they've already made more than 800
ornaments. Members will be at the Christmas
Craft Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at W.F.
Morrison Elementary, E501 Kalispell Street,
Troy, selling ornament that will likely be
heirlooms for those who own them, gracing
Christmas trees for years, and then passed on to
future generations.
The ornaments can be bought singly for $5 or in
sets of three, with one of each species
displayed on heavy wool cloth, for $12. Each
ornament is complete with metal hook so it can
go straight on your Christmas tree.
And if you can't make it to the bazaar, you can
order them and have them shipped. Shipping fee
for one ornament or one set of three is $6; for
two sets it's $7 and $8 for three sets. To order
yours or to find out more, contact Mrs. Palmer
by email to
jpalmer@troyk12.org, stop by Troy School
District Superintendent's office, 218 Spokane
Avenue, Troy, or send your order, with check
payable to The Art Club, to P.O. Box 867, Troy,
MT 59935. |
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