Marietta City Schools hosts Fine Arts Festival | News, Sports, Jobs

Students, teachers, parents, administrators and members of the public packed into the Marietta High School gym Wednesday for the 24th annual Fine Arts Festival. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

Marietta City Schools held its 24th Annual Fine Arts Festival Wednesday night, showcasing the talents of students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

According to Scott Rieder, director of choirs at Marietta High School, the festival is a unique event in the area that displays student art and musical performances.

“Something we’re very proud of in our district,” Rieder said.

Steve Brown, director of the Marietta Elementary School band, and J.D. Benson, director of the Maretta Elementary School choir, discussed the learning benefits their younger musicians gain from participating in the event.

“It gives them a chance to actually break out of their comfort zone like, almost a forced break out of their comfort zone,” Brown said. “So for them, to learn performance skills is probably the key.”

Kai Lopez performs “Vittoria, mio core!” by Giacomo Carrisimi during the 24th Annual Fine Arts Festival Wednesday at Marietta High School. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

In addition to performing their regular concert repertoire, the elementary band and choir students were challenged to learn extra pieces of music for the festival. This gives them a taste of what auditioning for select groups would be like.

Audience members got to see a diverse group of ensembles featuring different instrumental and vocal combinations.

Dozens of art students also showed off their work from the past year in a variety of mediums.

Among the exhibitions there were painted, drawn, knit, woodcraft, carving, pottery, sculpture, resin and digital entries from all four of the district schools.

Marietta High School art teacher Heath Rader said one standout project involved over 100 students collaborating on a large-scale group painting divided into 140 panels. Rader said he handed out small squares broken up from a larger painting and once assembled, the individual pieces came together to form a cohesive image.

A 140-panel painting done by 100 students was on display in the Marietta High School gym during the 24th annual Fine Arts Festival Wednesday. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

“I didn’t really know what we were doing,” freshman Nora Vigneron said. “I just got a little piece of paper, but I think it turned out really well.”

Vigneron had a few pieces on display including a painting of a knife that she said was her favorite piece.

“She did a really nice knife painting, it almost looks like a photo,” Rader said. “I don’t know how she did it. It is amazing.”

Rader said it took tremendous effort to get all of the displays together.

“It’s just a neat thing,” Rader said. “We’ve done it for 20 years. Just to see it come together in one day, that’s what’s kind of neat about it.”

Rieder said the Fine Arts Festival has been bringing the Marietta City School community together through visual art and music for 24 years. He said with continued support, he hopes it will continue to inspire students for many years to come.

“The community of Marietta, as a whole, supports the fine arts in our school district, as evidenced by this event that has been going on for 24 years,” Rieder said. “And that’s something that is incredibly important to every single student that goes to school in Marietta City Schools. And obviously something we want to see continue well into the future.”

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com