SUMTER, S.C. — If you're walking around downtown Sumter, you might be noticing a little bit of color. Local students have been busy creating artwork to put in storefront windows for the annual Inspire Festival, but this public art will be up for the next month.
“It feels exciting that, like, your creativity, everything, your hard work is put into something that everyone will notice,” Fifth grader Jasmine Washington said about collaborating with classmates, like Idric Robinson-Hinton, on art for the windows.
“Everyone put forth their effort inside the art. They all worked hard. And it was like a group activity so school-wide, so you know from the tiny pre-Kers to all the way to fifth graders, they all did their best and tried to work with the art,” Robinson-Hinton shared. “It shows the inclusion with the school ‘cuz if you think about it, you might not think that when you add all art together, but when you see all of them together, it just makes the best art you could ever see.”
Students worked with art teachers like Kristen Sill at Wilder Elementary.
“Gratification is the word that comes to mind. It is it is such a wonderful experience to be able to contribute to the community by sharing their art and by having their art out for the community to appreciate. It builds their confidence even more, so they've been super excited about the window and they're pleased with the way that it turns out,” Sill explained. “Sharing the love of art with the community is building a stronger community and strong communities have better opportunities, better jobs, better places to eat, more fun places to go, and it’s building the confidence of the students as they're members in this community.”
Sumter High School Fine Arts Department Chair Heidi Adler says 29 art teachers from 25 different Sumter County schools worked together to create the displays downtown.
“Art makes people happy. Not only the artists that create it, I mean there's a profound sense of pride when you’ve put your work and your effort and your time into something and you see the final product, and then when others see appreciate it, it's an exciting time for the artists that have created,” Adler, who teaches ceramics at Sumter High, explained.
“This is a great way for the Sumter community to see all of the hard work that our teachers and students put into fine arts and fine arts education each and every day,” Heather Clemmons, the Coordinator of Fine Arts and Gifted Education for Sumter School District, added.
Clemmons said the district worked with students across the district to encourage the collaboration, giving teachers designated time to work on the displays.
“You’ve got an art teacher at each school and we're very limited in the time that we get to come together as a department and meet, so them having that time to work together installing their art for the walk of art project was a great thing,” Clemmons said. “It’s important that students have a niche whether it's fine arts through our band chorus programs, visual arts programs, even athletics. I just feel like students need to have something that they are involved in in addition to their academics to keep them grounded where they need to be as a student.”
It’s part of a larger message of connecting with the community, Adler says.
“Sumter, like many communities, wants to value their younger students, the younger population, and this is a really fun, easy way to say, ‘You matter. You're important. We have roles for you,’ and build them up and as they get older, you know, hopefully they take it upon themselves to contribute to the community and do things so that everybody gets, you know, a really great opportunity.”
This project was an opportunity to loop in students from all different schools from public to private to Liberty STEAM Charter School students like third grader Mason Miller.
“It feels like we are famous,” Miller smiled.
“I was excited because I love drawing,” Miller’s classmate, Peyton Nelson, added. “And when I first came to Liberty and I heard and I was in second grade and I heard there was going to be an art teacher. I was so excited.”
Ashley Stancil is the lead visual arts and digital literacy teacher at Liberty STEAM, which worked on a travel display to align with the school’s airline theme.
“I love that all of the schools, even the private schools and charter school, can all kind of come together on this project and we can all share our ideas and you know, share our artwork with the town,” Stancil said. “It's just a great way to collaborate.”
That collaboration is not just between students at different schools, but also artists of all ages like Sumter High Senior Gabriel Stewart.
“It challenges the younger generation to break a mold,” Stewart detailed about the process of creating the art. “To not just do what you're told but to explore what you can do and what you're capable of doing.”
Lauren Daylami is the director of operations for three downtown restaurants: Sumter Original Brewery, Sidebar and Hampton’s. She says these displays are helpful for attracting more people to the area.
“It gives everybody a real sense of community and real pride in the place that they live in where you can work, play and have fun here,” Daylami shared, reflecting on the displays set up in previous years. “It was great for our business. I love the time of the year that they've picked to do it. The sun's coming out. People are ready to come out and see things. So it's been a very positive impact for all of our businesses.”