Meet the artists: Meeting Street has open house to show off student art
Some student art. Photos by Kat Sheridan
Isabelle, 3, shows off her unicorn face paint. 
Avery, 19, makes a sand art jar. 
Gabe Mandeville, 13, tries out the adaptable surfboard. 
Aleyah, 4, tries the adaptable surfboard. 
Adalynn Golmes, 4, with her stamp art. 
Amelia, 2, makes some stamp art. 
The minion fence posts. 
Julias, 11 months, holds a ballon crayon. 
Brookline Murphy pushes the button to hear New York music. 
Jentzen, 11, makes some sand art. 
Miley, 2, makes stamp art at the Buttonwood Zoo table. 
The student art section; New Bedford. 
Student art in the Disney section. 
Students flying through Neverland in the Disney section. 
Joseph, 4, and Thomas, 5, learn about the New Bedford Whaling Museum. . 
Photos of students making their art projects. 
The Las Vegas section. 
Some of the games at the Las Vegas section. 
Some student art. 
The New York City section. 
The mural designed by Devon and the students.
Some student art. Photos by Kat Sheridan
Isabelle, 3, shows off her unicorn face paint.
Avery, 19, makes a sand art jar.
Gabe Mandeville, 13, tries out the adaptable surfboard.
Aleyah, 4, tries the adaptable surfboard.
Adalynn Golmes, 4, with her stamp art.
Amelia, 2, makes some stamp art.
The minion fence posts.
Julias, 11 months, holds a ballon crayon.
Brookline Murphy pushes the button to hear New York music.
Jentzen, 11, makes some sand art.
Miley, 2, makes stamp art at the Buttonwood Zoo table.
The student art section; New Bedford.
Student art in the Disney section.
Students flying through Neverland in the Disney section.
Joseph, 4, and Thomas, 5, learn about the New Bedford Whaling Museum. .
Photos of students making their art projects.
The Las Vegas section.
Some of the games at the Las Vegas section.
Some student art.
The New York City section.
The mural designed by Devon and the students.
The kids attending Meeting Street don’t let their disabilities stop them from being creative, or exploring the world through art and research. The theme of the fifth annual student art show was “Schwartz in the city."
“It means everything to them,” said Michelle Godfrey, the head of the school. “They get to show what they can do, and we modify everything for all of our students so they can participate.”
Godfrey started the annual art show five years ago to give the students a chance to publicly show off their art and abilities. It started as a general art show, and eventually began to be themed.
This year, each class chose a location to research, create art about the area and have a food themed around the city they chose.
“It’s an expressive way of showing what they’re feeling,” said Godfrey.
One classroom was New York City, dark with skyscrapers, taxis, the Statue of Liberty and a button to play New York City themed music. Classic New York-style hot dogs were available for families to grab.
Another was Las Vegas, with games like slots to play, a Valley of Fire made of modeling clay and a festival of lanterns. Guests could grab a mocktail to emulate the city.
New Bedford made an appearance, with brick buildings, a lighthouse and fishing net. Warm New England clam chowder was there as a local snack.
Other locations like Disneyland, Tokyo, Hollywood and Los Angeles could be visited just a couple feet apart.
Art at Meeting Street doesn’t just mean using crayons or paint like in most art classes; they fill water pistols with paint, or stamp paint over tape to create shapes.
The students also had the chance to decorate a fence post however they wanted; a common theme was minions from “Despicable Me.” Godfrey hopes to shellac the posts and build a fence in the schoolyard.
Guests could do more than just see what the students are capable of; many community partners came out to offer activities for the kids. The New Bedford Whaling Museum had a game where students could “feed the whale” with a bean bag toss. Buttonwood Park Zoo had animal shaped stamps. The New Bedford Art Museum had a drawing station set up.
The school also had crafts available, with jars kids could fill with colorful sand, an adaptive surfboard from Gnome Surf and face painting.
The school hopes to expand the school and build a second build in their parking lot. A local artist, Devon, helped the students create a mural to be placed in the new Meeting Street expansion. Students filled the background with colorful swirls, and Devon added in the logo.
Steve Heywood, one of the staff workers, pointed out how much work Godfrey put into this show and how much she, and the rest of the staff, truly care about all the students. Godfrey and the staff walked around greeting each family, hugging the students and helping them however needed during the show.
“Our students are a part of our family and you can see that here,” said Godfrey.
