Student revives ‘Art in the Park’
Edie Weston, left, Oak Ridge Youth Advisory Board chairwoman and an Oak Ridge High School junior, organized Art in the Park. She stands next to her art teacher, Hannah Theele, who sold merchandise at her student’s event. (photo:Ben Pounds )
A string quartet played on one side of Oak Ridge’s pavilion stage, nicknamed “the pringle” for its shape. On the other side of the stage, Youth Advisory Board members drew portraits on a banner with pastels. Other youth drew murals with chalk on the sidewalk. Children painted on canvases at one table and drew on a banner at another, while youth painted children’s cheeks at another.
Some students showed off their work. Adult artists sold work ranging from pottery and jewelry to paintings of dinosaurs.
Amid it all was the organizer, Youth Advisory Board chairwoman and Oak Ridge High School junior Edie Weston, who revived the pre-pandemic Art in the Park event this year on March 31.
“We’ve got photography,” she said. “We’ve got just basic painting with acrylics. We’ve got face painting. We’ve got music. And it just is a fun event. It’s like the Lavender Festival, I would say, but with more community activities.”
There were “more things for the youth to do and more things for people to participate in,” she said, adding she was looking forward to doing the event again next year. “I’ve had such a good time planning, setting up and everything, I think it’s really important to keep this event going,” she said. “The first year is definitely the hardest year when you’re starting a new event, so I think next year we’ll get all the kinks out and we’ll know how to do everything.”
Weston said the event was “not entirely” her idea, as it revived the previous event. But she said she came up with the activities this go around and helped the event’s return due to her love of art.
“It’s something that I wanted to do,” she said, adding she’d taken “probably every single art class that my school has to offer,” including painting, printmaking and ceramics.
“There’s so many different forms of art,” she said. “It’s so beautiful and creative, and I just think that it’s something that we all can share and can all take part in.
“I think that having creative freedom to make whatever you want and just to be free, I think is really important,” she said.
She worked with the Youth Advisory Board, a group of teens appointed by the Oak Ridge City Council to be in charge of youth events, community service and other responsibilities. With this event, the board worked with Recreation Center Manager Dave Anderson.
She said getting the word out was difficult, but the event’s turnout exceeded her expectations. Another challenge, she said, was attracting vendors to the event. Artists came from the East Tennessee Art Foundation and Oak Ridge Art Center.
Weston’s teacher, Oak Ridge High School art teacher Hannah Theele, was on hand selling jewelry at her booth. She said it was her first market of any kind in five years. She said she was happy to support her student.
“I’m really proud of Edie for putting this together,” she said. “The hard part is over, and now I think she’s really enjoying the fruits of her labor. We’ve seen a lot of people today, and we’ve only been open for an hour.”
Also on hand was Oak Ridge’s poet laureate Rose Weaver, who wrote a poem for the occasion.
“Today, youth is your day/ To have fun/ Under the sun/ Create your own art/ Make a happy face with chalk/ Or on paper please/ You have the creativity to bring/ each of us adults to our knees,” she said.
