TEMPLE, Texas — Two Temple Independent School District students were selected to have their artwork displayed at the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) and Texas Association of School Boards’ (TASB) State Convention last weekend in San Antonio.
This is the first time Temple ISD has submitted artwork for consideration for display at TASA/TASB ‘s txEDCON. Both submissions were accepted, and the student’s work was on display for three days for the thousands of school board members and school administrators in attendance at the convention to see.
Bryelle Lewis-Reeders’ mixed media project titled “Asymmetrical Swirls & More” was selected as a representative of Bonham Middle School in the display and Xavier Guillen’s print-making project titled “Mushrooms” was chosen as a representative of Western Hills Elementary School.
“We are so pleased to get the opportunity to showcase the amazing talents and hard work of our art teachers and students,” said Shirley Johnston Boquin, coordinator of Fine Arts for Temple ISD. “This is our first year to submit entries for the TASA/TASB art exhibition, so this honor is something we are so excited to share. We are so proud of Bryelle and Xavier and their art teachers – Stacey Smith and Meagan Foster – and we know they were great representatives of Temple ISD art programs!”
Temple ISD art teachers submitted different works from their campuses with Lewis-Reeders’ and Guillen’s work being chosen to represent the district for submission to the Texas Arts Educators Association (TAEA). Only 570 pieces of artwork, representing 122 school districts, were selected for display in the TAEA Student Art Advocacy Booth during the txEDCON.
“I was surprised, I was never really into art, but Mrs. Smith kept telling me it was good, so I kept going,” Lewis-Reeders said. “It means a lot to be chosen because I never thought it would be me. I felt like I was creating something good, but it is hard to put into words what inspired me.”
“It makes me proud, and I was surprised when I found out. I was not expecting it,” Guillen said. “When we got to adding the paint, it got really fun. This just kind of came out of my imagination and art is something that I like to do as a hobby.”
Temple ISD is currently pursuing District of Distinction recognition for its art department from the TAEA. One of the requirements for that honor is to have student artwork selected for display in different exhibits across the state. The TASA/TASB display is one of those exhibits.