farmington – Sarah Wade, age 10, has a new reason to go to Portland’s Children’s Museum of Maine.
Some of her artwork, along with pieces by more than 10 other area kids, is on exhibit there this month.
That’s just the beginning.
The kids who took part in the Franklin Memorial Health Network camp this year and last year will be auctioning their work at an Indian-themed fundraiser in August. Some pieces are already spoken for.
The owner of a high-end coastal art gallery wants to bid on a few for her office. Area business people have picked out pieces they hope to claim, too.
Wade’s painting “The Camels” is one of those that FMH Development Director Maureen Goudreau says she’s heard potential buyers express interest in.
The 10-year-old’s “Panther Sculpture” is hanging in the Portland museum. Wade said she chose the panther because “it’s sly and unique.”
“I like it, because I put a lot of time and effort into it, and it makes me smile,” she said in a taped interview.
“Art can heal, because it makes people happy,” she said.
Sitting in an office full to the brim with kids’ paintings, masks and sculpture, Goudreau beamed and said she thinks the exposure the children are getting is “fantastic.”
“I love it when I get to see kids succeed like this. Who knows how this is going to affect their futures,” she said. Maybe one or two will go on to art school sometime down the road, she said.
The kids’ works will be on display at the Children’s Museum of Maine until the end of July. A Safari Art Auction themed on Rudyard Kipling’s India, complete with Indian appetizers and a Taj Mahal playhouse, will take place starting at 5 p.m. on Aug. 24.
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