Dana Poe, art teacher at Williams Intermediate School has been gearing her students up all year to complete their final project, a sidewalk chalk festival. Before Thursday, Poe spent the year teaching her class about art techniques and famous artists.

She allowed her students to choose any character or subject to base their project on. Students chose to use that creativity to bring their favorite animated characters to life or express feelings they have about their lives in artistic ways.

It began with small scale sketching and then gave them an opportunity to plan how they would utilize the sidewalk space to fully illustrate their ideas using butcher paper. She taught her students specifically about the medium of chalk and helped them plan how to execute their ideas.

The sixth grade class was given the entire day to fully create their pieces before they were judged for prizes later that afternoon.

Emma Funderberg took an opportunity to apply a technique they learned in class by blending her piece with water. She also decided to create her piece with a vanishing point, making it seem as if a road she had drawn into the concrete disappeared in the distance.

She said she was happy to use techniques Poe had taught her and also get a chance to relax out of the classroom without any school work.

She also said this activity aligns with coloring, which is a hobby she also enjoys outside of school.

Ethan Hernani was inspired by Andy Warhol, drawing four squares of Squidward from SpongeBob Squarepants. Each square demonstrated a different artistic style. He said it took him about thirty minutes to come up with the entire design.

His favorite part of the project was “seeing it all come together at the end.”

“I’m very proud of it,” said Ethan.

Jason Hicks said he brought together his love of playing music and doing art by etching a red electric guitar into the concrete. He said he designed the piece after a guitar he actually owns, which brought him a lot of joy.

The project took him from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. to finally finish his piece, but he felt like it was worth it because of how proud he was of the final product.

Best friends Clayden Bryant and Ethan worked on their pieces together, and they try to work together in every class they have.

Clayden decided he wanted to do an illusion, which made the concrete look as if it were stairs

They said they had been best friends since they were born because their parents knew each other.

Breyonna Curtis also worked side by side with her best friend, Chelsea Harris, to complete her project, which was a drawing of balloons to represent her family.

“I had that idea because I have family members up in heaven, so they’re kind of floating up to heaven in a clear blue sky,” said Breyonna.

“My thing is music, not art, but I’m glad I got to hang out with my friends,” said Chelsea.

Briana said this school year has felt long, so she was glad for a chance to be with her friend and work on something she really cared about.