St. John Neumman Regional School art teacher Erica Wallace arranged the Art Show and Mother’s Day Tea for the third year.

“We teach children how to develop and use creativity to stay engaged. Art is to express themselves and break from normal studies,” Wallace said.

Wallace has a curriculum to follow, but also takes the opportunity to use her creative skills to decide which projects students will make.

Kindergarten to eighth grade were represented for both the Palmerton and Slatington campuses of the school, including pre-Kindergarten art. In honor of Mother’s Day, complementary tea was served. There was also a bake sale and basket raffle.

Kim Shoenberger, a parent and owner of Shoenberger Meat Market, offered pulled pork, chicken thighs, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, coleslaw, and macaroni salad. Her 15-year-old daughter, Kaylee, and 9-year-old son, Karter, helped with the sales.

All of the art supplies used in the art class were donated. Proceeds from the Mother’s Day event will go to the art class.

Jackson Walck, 12, explained the process of “paper quilling.”

“You take a coil, twist it and glue it. It takes about one and a half to two hours,” he said.

Shawna Berger, 10, won first place for the upcycling clothing project.

“I made a dress as I like wearing dresses. This is my favorite piece of clothing, because it has a sweater and a belt,” she said. “Pink is my favorite color.”

Although Remy Jones, 7, likes her pizza “with just pepperoni,” her first-place art pizza included extra cheese, vegetables, olives and pepperoni as “It looks better with everything on it,” she said.

Fifteen-year-old Victoria Walck graduated from Neumman last year. Walck said, “ I have loved art since I was young. It just clicked. Mrs. Wallace makes it fun.”

Walck is now an art major at a charter school in Bethlehem.

Wallace shared that the kids learned to tie-dye. The school ended up using those T-shirts for field trips.

The next year they learned to screen print by hand and again used the T-shirts they made for school trips.

There were a variety of unique projects made by the kids including using scrap paper to make birds. They learned about different shapes and cut out the paper, followed by using oil pastels to make the project.

Talking to the kids, it was easy to tell they enjoyed using their creativity and what better way to showcase it than enjoying tea with mom.