Plains students bring the holidays to local businesses
<p><strong>Dustin Blanchard and Alan Ihms-Beard plan out part of their Christmas painting on the front window of McGowans. They also teamed with Diana Woodward.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Makenna Smith paints in the small details of the North Pole scene she and her partner, Jeffrey Marshall, put on the window of the Plains Subway.</strong></p>
PLAINS – Art students from Plains High School added holiday cheer to local businesses Thursday morning by going around and decorating windows with festive winter scenes.
This is an annual tradition for the high school. Kristen Cole, art teacher at Plains, recalled the high school students have been painting business windows for approximately 20 years.
Over the course of the day, the students painted approximately 25 business windows along the Railroad Avenue corridor and the surrounding area.
The project also helped engage the student’s creativity. Most of the paintings were designed by the students themselves; Cole recalled some of the businesses gave some input of something they wanted to see or offered a design idea, but for the most part the students came up with what they painted.
Some of the windows were based on the business; the group painting the McGowans windows said their original plan was to incorporate groceries. Other designs were based on the owners; Cole recalled one set of business owners liked the Minions and had a design incorporating them.
“It’s kinda fun to see what they come up with,” she said.
The students had two days to prepare; participating businesses needed to have their permission forms submitted by Tuesday to be included. During the two days, the students had to decide on their design as well as prepare their paints and any stencils or guides they would need.
Cole recalled the businesses were very appreciative and gracious to the students for their efforts. She noted, in years past, some of them would bring the kids snacks or drinks to enjoy as they worked and the project as a whole fostered a good level of support.
The young artists liked how the project brought a festive air to the community to match the decorations around town.
According to Diana Woodward, Dustin Blanchard and Alan Ihms, painting the windows helps with their bond with the community; they need to interact with the business owners as well as the customers as they work and coordinate their work. It also helps them work outside the box and expand their art skills.
“We’re really enjoying it, I’m having a lot of fun,” said Makenna Smith. “I like doing stuff like this that helps other people.”
Her partner, Jeffrey Marshall, also noted it helped them get to know the business owners.
In the history of the project, there was only one year where they did not paint the windows at the request of the businesses; instead, they decorated snowmen for each.
“I wasn’t able to do both, so we picked that that year,” she said of the exception.
The paintings should be easy to take down. They will stay up until after the Christmas season, coming down about the first week of the New Year.