COUNCIL BLUFFS — When Tessa Sanders, a 12th-grader at the Kanesville Alternative Learning Center, heard about the project, she talked to her teachers, the school administrators — everyone she thought of — about getting an opportunity to participate.
"I begged to be in it," said Sanders, who is among two dozen Kanesville students taking part. "I'm very excited."
So is Tarah Kirk, another 12th-grader. "I like all the ideas everybody is putting together and helping each other."
The students are involved in a community art project, and the ideas they are generating could play a big role in the creation of the art, organizers said. If nothing else, their enthusiasm is helping the project take shape.
"It's giving me energy to put into my work," said area artist Deborah Masuoka. "At this time of their lives, the world is exciting to them — and it's coming out."
The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, with Masuoka and Therman Statom as the lead artists, is working with the students on creation of public art to be situated in the area around the school on North Eighth Street, also known as the Kanesville-Tinley neighborhood.
One day a week for six weeks, Masuoka and Statom are teaching the students about the finer points of art and getting the kids' ideas to shape their own thoughts about the project.
"The artists are looking to the students as far as theme, color, material and scale to guide their own creation for the art," said Kanesville art teacher Heather Mauer.
The entire design process, called Building Bridges, is being funded in part by the Iowa West Foundation.
Over the next few months, Masuoka and Statom will sit down with the young artists and combine the students' ideas with their own suggestions to finalize a public art sculpture. A site hasn't been chosen yet, though it's hoped the project can be completed by year's end.
"I think it's cool taking empty space and letting students come up with ideas to fit that space," said Shaun Wonder, an 11th-grader.
Art gives kids a chance to express themselves — their individuality, Masuoka said. It's a chance to bring out their emotions and life experiences.
"This is exactly what kids need," she said. "It gives them a sense of freedom."
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