SALEM, Ore., Aug. 25, 2014 – Student artist, Matson Fowler, a sixth-grader from Jacksonville Elementary School, was honored during a reception held at the State Fair in Salem on Sunday. Matson is one of 13 students to win the AITC Calendar Art Contest, sponsored annually by Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation (AITC).
This year 1,548 students, from 29 counties, entered artwork about Oregon agriculture into the contest. The winning art is published in a school-year calendar and distributed statewide. The contest is open to all Oregon public, private, charter and homeschool students in Kindergarten through sixth grade. Since Oregon produces over 220 different commodities, students have a wide variety of subjects from which to choose.
Matson (center) poses with Greg Thompson, MC and mom Alyson. Matson is a four-time winner of the contest.
For his artwork, Matson chose to depict a baby chick next to an unhatched egg. It is the featured art for the month of February. “I thought it would be fun to paint a chick next to an egg, to show two stages of a chicken’s life,” Matson said. To create the artwork, Matson used watercolors and a combination of brushes to create his desired “fuzzy” look. He submitted artwork to the statewide contest last spring as a fifth-grader. This is Matson’s fourth time winning the state-wide contest, the most in history.
“The calendar contest is a great project for teachers. It gives them an opportunity to teach about the bounty and beauty of Oregon agriculture and incorporate art into their classrooms,” said Jessica Budge, AITC Executive Director and coordinator for the calendar contest. “Each month in the calendar features one of the winning student’s art and each day of the year has a fact about agriculture that helps everyone gain a better understanding of agriculture – the source of our food and fiber.”
Besides having their artwork published in the calendar, each winning student received a $50 award and certificate. The artwork of all 13 winners will be on display during the Oregon State Fair which runs through Labor Day in Salem.
About Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom: Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation (AITC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping students grow in their knowledge of Oregon’s agriculture, environment and natural resources. AITC provides free educational lessons, activities and resource materials to Oregon educators to support the integration of agricultural themes into academic subjects such as math, science, history and language arts. For more information visit the AITC website at AITC.oregonstate.edu.