For the next month, Lopez Center is home to a vibrant collection of art created by Lopez Elementary students.

Elementary art teacher Valerie Yukluk supervises a different age group each day of the week, so the kids work on a variety of ongoing projects.

The first graders are displaying stuffed dolls made from fake fur and brightly colored fabrics. “A student came up with the idea,” said Yukluk. “She’d been making dolls and called them ‘Ugly Dolls.’” Students have attached a name tag to each doll, describing its history. Yukluk did most of the stitching, but kids created their own designs and sewed on buttons.

Yukluk’s students were working on faces and profiles and they recently progressed to the entire body. Kids copied a painting with oil pastels, cut it out, and pasted it to cardboard, making small, stand-up, cardboard people. Also on display are “under the sea” paintings made with water soluble oil pastels and watercolor paintings of birds.

A quilt of Lopez Island, made by two groups of art students last year, is hanging up as well. The kids designed their own quilt square with fabric pens, and several local quilters helped to sew and quilt it. They donated it as an item in the Art Fair auction last summer, and after some of the kids’ parents heard that Yukluk adored the quilt, they pooled their money together and purchased it at the auction, presenting it to Yukluk as a gift.

The show is up until May 20, and anyone is welcome to stop by Lopez Center to check it out. The Center’s hours are Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.