Middle schoolers create art that's nothing to brush off

Inside the cozy interior of the Bluefoot Cafe amongst the smell of fresh coffee and sweets, sits dozens of art pieces from the students at Wareham Middle School.

Different mediums line the walls of the cafe at 379, Main Street and will remain until Monday, Feb. 28. The featured works are a part of teachers Andrea Ericson and Cynthia Gedraitis' yearly tradition to showcase select pieces from their students.

"They all work really hard because they want to get in," Ericson said. "I think that it's motivation to make more beautiful work— then the community gets to see what the kids are doing."

Coffee cups in hand, patrons gathered at an artists reception Sunday, Feb. 8 to meet those behind the artwork. Gedraitis said that being able to provide the students with the time to create and have their pieces available to the public has always been a good feature of the showcase. 

"Especially in our busy lives the way we all live right now, to have dedicated time where there's no pressure and there aren't other demands is really nice," she said.

Sixth grader Mason Ecker was one of many students who had art featured. He said he would consider himself an artist and that he only began to really get into the craft two years ago. 

Mason didn't try to get into the art show, but had his piece with a road featured. He said the hardest part about being an artist is when the art doesn't turn out how you'd pictured it, but that his favorite was "seeing the final product come together."

As for Haily Wingo who is in the seventh grade, she enjoys the freedom in being creative. Although, her twin sister Alex said she feeds her ideas most of the time and is there to tell Haily when she's being a perfectionist. 

"She [Haily] was perfecting her drawing and I'm like "it's gonna be fine!"" Alex said. 

"It didn't look good on paper," Haily interjected. 

Haily created a paper mache mask that resembles the sun and a character from the video game "Five Nights at Freddy's." She said she will make rough drafts and often has to leave what she's sketched out alone because she'd "just make it worse" if she kept going. 

With her twin at her side willing to look at her art and be her biggest supporter and critic, Haily said she often finds herself creating. Using her surroundings helps her stay inspired and her sister keeps her on her toes with critiques. 

"I'm very nitpicky," Alex said. "I get nitpicky about a lot of things."  

The mask she made passed the twin vibe check, but wasn't on Haily's radar to be selected for the art show. She said she is happy to have it be shown and was even more excited to have breakfast at the cafe. 

"I would not come over here this early in the morning to not have breakfast," Haily said.