Most kindergarten students are happy just to have their artwork displayed on their parents’ refrigerator. Six-year-old Makenzie Miller’s artwork, though, was recently selected as the “best of the best” in fine arts by the Arts Alive Program and displayed at the Capitol building for hundreds of people to view.

The Arts Alive Program is in its second year as a state-wide initiative focused on supporting the development of emerging fine arts programs in West Virginia public schools. The artworks displayed were chosen by judges selected by the West Virginia Art Education Association.

The four students’ artwork was chosen to represent Boone County Schools were Tiffany Baldwin, grade 7, Madison Middle School; Rebecca Runion, grade 11, Scott High School; Dennis Treadway, grade 4, Sherman Elementary School; and Makenzie Miller, kindergarten, Madison Elementary School. Miller was the only kindergarten student in the entire state of West Virginia whose artwork was selected for the 2008 Youth Art Month Exhibition.

“Not only was she selected in the Youth Art Month Exhibition, but Mackenzie’s art was then chosen as one of the best of the best and displayed at the Capitol,” said Sandy McKenzie, art teacher at Madison Elementary School.

“Nationally, people from across the nation are recognized and their artwork displayed somewhere prominent. This year it was at the Capitol,” she said.

“It is just amazing and wonderful,” Madison Elementary School Principal Pat Conaway said.

Miller is a student in Katherine Dolin’s kindergarten class at Madison Elementary. Her winning artwork is a hand-drawn picture of her family. The brightly colored photo depicts her parents, her brother and herself.

Miller’s parents are Brycen and Amanda Miller, and her brother is Zane Miller, all of West Madison.

“Her grandmother is Penny Halstead, of Madison,” McKenzie said.

Miller’s artwork is currently on display in the Main Office at Madison Elementary School. Whether Miller’s artwork finds a final resting place on the family refrigerator, or some other prominent place in the Miller home, is not known. But from the smile on young Miller’s face, her days of creative arts are just beginning.

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Students at Madison Elementary School are learning about the coal industry through research and guest speakers. The students are turning their knowledge into charcoal drawings and watercolor paintings that are currently on display in the lobby of the school. Voters on May 13 will be able to view the artwork when they arrive at the school to cast their votes. This initiative was financed, in part, by a grant from the CEDAR of Southern West Virginia, Inc. grant opportunity. The CEDAR Grant Review Committee awarded art teacher Sandy McKenzie with $746.38 in December for the project.

Cutline for Photo: Katherine Dolin, Kindergarten Teacher, Mackenzie Miller, Pat Conway, principal, and Sandy McKenzie, art teacher.

Contact Joanie Newman at jnewman@coalvalleynews or call 369-1165.