Gallery 202 displays student artwork Thursday, January 12,2006 By MACKENZIE WHITE ’Ä®ThisWeek Staff Writer Carly Vroom looks over some of the artwork on display at Gallery 202 in Uptown Monday night. Vroom, a second-grader at Central College Elementary School, has two pieces of art in the Westerville PTA's Reflections exhibition. Nearly 200 pieces of artwork by Westerville students are on display at Uptown's Gallery 202. Forty-eight of those pieces are headed to bigger and better things: They'll be entered in the state competition in the National PTA's Reflections Program. The entries include works of art in four genres: visual arts, photography, musical composition and literature. The 169 pieces on display at Gallery 202 were chosen at the district level; they were submitted by Westerville students in three age levels: grades K-2, 3-5 and 6-8. Of those, 48 pieces were chosen as district-level winners and those will go on to the state competition, with winners announced in March, Westerville Parents Council president Trina Shanks said. The Uptown gallery held a preview for the district-level winners and their families Monday night. The students' work will be on display through Jan. 25. According to the Gallery 202 Web site, the 169 entries include 61 pieces of visual art, 38 photographs, 15 musical works and 55 literature entries. Each contest carries a theme. This year's theme is "I Wonder Why." "It's the kids' interpretation of what that might mean to them," Shanks said. Students receive the theme in the fall and entries are typically due in December, according to www. gallery202online.com. Westerville students can enter any or all four categories. Winners at the state level head to the national level, with those winners notified in May. Awards of excellence and awards of merit are recognized at the annual National PTA Convention and displayed in a virtual gallery on National PTA's Web site. Westerville had one national-level winner last year: Amy Cox from Mark Twain Elementary, who won an award of excellence in the primary division (preschool-grade 2) for her work of literature titled "Art Teacher." It reads: "I had an empty space. It wasn't joyful. There was no color, the world was boring. Then I discovered art and filled the empty space with clay, paint, chalk, crayons and ink. The teacher filled my mind with ideas, projects and fun. And I never had an empty space again." The Reflections Program is meant to encourage artistic expression, according to the program's Web site. Colorado PTA president Mary Lou Anderson started the program in 1969. Choosing the theme each year is a contest in itself. Students submit thousands of entries to the Reflections Program Theme Search. Past themes have included "Imagine That" and "A Different Kind of Hero," according to the Reflections Web site. Gallery 202 is at 38 N. State St. General hours are noon-8 p.m. Wednesday, noon-4 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. The gallery can be reached by phone at 614-890-8202. mwhite@thisweeknews.com ¬Ý