Abilene's NPR Station
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Middle School Students Celebrate Diversity Through Art

(Photo by Joy Bonala) The "Colors Unite" art exhibit by Clack Middle School students will be on display through February at Monks Coffee Shop in Abilene. The exhibit features portraits of Emmitt Till and Daisy Bates.
(Photo by Joy Bonala) The "Colors Unite" art exhibit by Clack Middle School students will be on display through February at Monks Coffee Shop in Abilene. The exhibit features portraits of Emmitt Till and Daisy Bates.

Clack Middle School students are learning to celebrate diversity through art. Pre-AP Art students spent over a month creating the “Colors Unite” Black History Month exhibit, designed to celebrate diversity and lesser-known individuals who contributed to the Civil Rights movement. Clack art teacher, Jaclyn Burch, came up with the idea.

“I wanted them to see that art could take them places, I wanted to show them that art can make a difference,” Burch said.

She tells her students that art can educate and inspire people. This project is focused on teaching others about Emmett Till and Daisy Bates, two African-Americans whose effort and sacrifices inspired people to keep working for equality during the Civil Rights Movement.

Burch’s students spent two weeks planning the project, then another two and a half weeks creating their individual works that were combined to create the larger portraits of Till and Bates.   

“The nature of the project, Colors Unite, it’s really for them to realize that diversity is a beautiful thing,” Burch said.

Diversity of textures, styles and finishes all come together to make the portraits complete. The exhibit will be on display at Monk’s Coffee Shop in downtown Abilene for the month of February.