THREE-DIMENSIONAL ART, including ceramics, were featured during the fourth annual “heART Show” on Feb. 26 at Centerpoint Health-Versailles (formerly Bluegrass Community Hospital). “A lot of them really overwhelmed me with their artwork,” first-year Woodford County High School art teacher Amy Schmidt said. Sarah Bond, who is a nurse-practitioner/cardiology at Centerpoint Health-Versailles, is pictured judging entries. (Photo by Bob Vlach)
ROBERT STROMBERG, a cardio-pulmonary therapist, and local attorney Cassie Barnes are pictured judging entries in the “heART Show” at Centerpoint Health-Versailles (formerly Bluegrass Community Hospital) on Feb. 26. (Photo by Bob Vlach)
By Bob Vlach
Woodford Sun Staff
The hospital lobby at Centerpoint Health-Versailles was turned into an exhibition space for 27 Woodford County High School students entering the fourth annual “heART Show” on Feb. 26.
The students were invited to creatively interpret how heart health, unity and community connections make Central Kentucky stronger together, according to a new release from Centerpoint Health. Participating students had about one month to finish their “Stronger Together: The Heart that Connects Us” entries.
WCHS art teacher Amy Schmidt said, “I do think it’s very important to have a community connection with your art.” So, she encouraged her students to enter because the heART Show asked them to connect the idea behind their art with a theme.
Cailey Ledbetter, 18, said she embraces universal themes in her art. So she incorporated outer space and the cosmos in her “We Are All Stardust” entry because “from the Big Bang until present day, we evolved from the stars,” she said. Art, she added, “allows me to express myself in a way that can’t be communicated through words.”
Another motivation for Cailey, a senior studying to become an EMT at WCHS, and other students to enter the heART Show, according to Schmidt, was a $500 scholarship being awarded for first place, which was won by Elena Sproul. The first-year WCHS art teacher said students had told her about the heART Show because they were very excited about being a part of the contest again.
“The talent of some of these kids is amazing,” said local attorney Cassie Barnes, while judging entries. “I have no artistic prowess whatsoever, but I can appreciate their art.”
Sarah Bond, a nurse-practitioner/cardiology at Centerpoint Health-Versailles, was judging for a third year. “I love art. I love involving the community and us getting to do this,” she said.
Most of the heART Show entries were created on canvas using acrylic paints, but students in her ceramics class were also invited to participate, Schmidt said. “A lot of them,” she added, “really overwhelmed me with their artwork,” using a creative medium that “they gravitate towards.”
To promote heart health during American Heart Month, Centerpoint Health has heART Shows at all four of its Central Kentucky Hospitals, including Centerpoint Health-Versailles (formerly Bluegrass Community Hospital). A total of $3,000 in scholarships is awarded, the Centerpoint news release stated.
“We are community-minded,” said Robert Stromberg, a cardio-pulmonary therapist at Centerpoint Health-Versailles.
“… We want to reach out, embrace our community and make our community healthier. And so if we can involve the youth in that process … they become more proactive, especially in their own community. And they’ll be bigger advocates for healthcare.”
At Centerpoint Health-Versailles, artwork by Maddy Jones was awarded second place, and scholarship winner Elena Sproul also received the Fan Favorite award.
Bond, offering her take on the theme of the student artwork, said, “We all have a heart – and we should all work together and love each other.”