Artists to spend week with elementary students

Visual artists Mark Zimmerman and Mary Wipf will be spending time with second- and fourth-graders in Austin and Jolley elementary schools during the week of Jan. 9-13. This husband-wife team comes to Vermillion from the Black Hills, thanks to the Vermillion PTA and a matching funds grant from the South Dakota Arts Council, with funds from the state of South Dakota, through the Department of Tourism and State Development, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Wipf will spend time each day with every second grade class, offering them a chance to explore paper-marbling techniques. Zimmerman will spend his week with the fourth-graders, teaching basic drawing skills. "The children of South Dakota are our most important resources," said Wipf. "It is imperative that their creativity be sparked and cultivated to enrich their lives and at the same time enhance society as a whole."

Wipf and Zimmerman will be special guests at the reception for the Vermillion PTA's third annual Reflections Art Gallery, to be held at the W.H. Over Museum on Thursday, Jan. 12. The reception will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., with a presentation of this year's Judge's Choice entries to occur at 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend.