Maine Art Gallery (MAG) in Wiscasset provided the perfect backdrop for Wiscasset Schools’ 2026 Student Art Show opening reception Thursday, April 9, linking students, teachers, art lovers and community. Wiscasset Middle High School art teacher Emily Dobson and Wiscasset Elementary School art teacher Liz Proffetty drove curatorial decisions, picking over 100 pieces of art to display. Media and styles run the gamut: drawings, paintings, prints, sculptures, photography, charcoals, mixed media, and crafts, representing art projects created by students this past school year. The exhibit runs April 9-12, gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 15 Warren St.

The popular event, sponsored annually by First Nations Bank, provides a chance for the community to appreciate young artists and their works in a social setting; serving as a reminder that art is a medium for community connection and a celebration of creativity. Proffetty provided context for her students' creations. “I used cultural studies as a theme throughout the year. I wanted students to know where art came from. We drew inspiration from folk art, cultures in Central and South America, Asian arts, and others across a timeline from Mesopotamia through the fall of Rome, from medieval periods through Renaissance and impressionists, to modern. I wanted them to have that history, that understanding, that context,” she said.

Students were on hand to discuss their works, from ideation to final creation, working through an essential element of their art educations – learning to talk about their pieces with the public. “We studied old European art history and got the chance to remake the 'Mona Lisa.' I wanted to do something original, so I took inspiration from a painting of da Vinci painting the 'Mona Lisa,' and I remade that. I liked the paradox of it, a picture of da Vinci making the Mona Lisa and a picture or me remaking that picture,” Rowan Sullivan said.

Grayson Mullins started with the letter “S” as his inspiration and took the scene underwater, making a fish from the initial S-shape. “There’s a lot going on,” he said. “In between each sun, has its own underwater landscape, like volcanoes and rocks and more sea life.”

Spencer Grover spoke about the resilience and determination when making his medieval castle drawing. “It took me two to three weeks, I restarted a few times. I had to tweak the scale over and over to get it right,” he said.

Encouragement and shop-talk between MAG’s established artists and the students offered valuable moments of mentorship. Discussions about colors and textures, lines and scales, critical thinking and problem solving, techniques and inspirations, were abundant as the experienced MAG artists engaged the students about their pieces, sometimes with helpful pointers, sometimes as a fellow commiserate, always with a sense of pride and achievement.

"I want to commend students on their wonderful work. It's one of the great pleasures we have here, this student show, and thank you to this property, and to Emily Dobson and Liz Proffetty for their teaching abilities to create these wonderful artists that we have here today,” said Kay Liss, president of the gallery, a non-profit organization.

First National Bank is sponsor for the K-12 Student Art Show; season sponsor is Sherri Dunbar of Tim Dunham Realty; and capital sponsor is Ames True Value Hardware.