Art teachers display their work

In a bit of a reversal, students - and the public - can see the artwork of their teachers on display.

About 40 pieces by at least 16 people who teach art in Sussex County schools are in an exhibit that runs through Thursday, April 27 at the Sussex County Arts & Heritage Council’s gallery, 133 Spring St., Newton.

This is the first exhibit of art teachers’ work.

Linda Swentzel, board secretary of the council, pointed out that while students’ artwork in included in shows, teachers’ work usually is not.

”We felt that it was important to recognize the artists that teach art to future artists,” she said.

Art teachers were invited to submit up to three pieces each.

“We’re reaching out to the artists of Sussex County, and art teachers are an unrecognized group,” Swentzel said.

The idea was suggested to the council by Christine O’Brien-Mase, who teaches art and photography at Sparta High School.

She is showing photographs that are part of her latest work, which was inspired by a journal entry in the book “Salvaged Pages; Anonymous Girl.” In the entry, a young girl recorded the rations that her family received while living in the ghetto in Lodz, Poland, in early 1942.

A reception for the artists was held Friday, April 21.

Wendy Ransom, who teaches art to grades preK-8 at Ogdensburg School, said she met some art teachers and renewed her acquaintance with others at the reception.

Ransom, the first art teacher at the school in many years, calls her classes and student art club O’burg Arts.

Among her work on display at the SCAHC gallery was a vase that she decorated using cake-decorating tools.