Dahmen Barn receives grant

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Jun 28, 20120

A new grant received by Artisans at Dahmen Barn will bring artists into Colton School next year. A total of $8,200 was awarded to the organization earlier this month by the Inland Northwest Community Foundation.

Dahmen Barn Manager Leslee Miller is now working to put together the program which will begin in September.

The effort follows a pilot project conducted in March in which Colton-Uniontown students painted satellite dishes in Uniontown.

McGregor Co. cleaned the dishes, and paint was donated by Sherwin Williams and Columbia Paint.

The new grant project for 2012-13 will involve instruction in six age groups.

At the end of the next school year, May 2013, students will exhibit their work at the barn to raise money to continue the program.

From September to April, Miller said, each age group will get six separate creative experiences, taught by specialists in a certain art medium.

“We want each of the instructors to be really good at what they do and what they can teach kids,” said Miller.

One of the sessions could involve ceramics. Colton School still has a kiln and potter’s wheels left from their previous art program. Colton Supt. Nate Smith said he is happy to have arts coming back to the school.

“As a district we’ve been trying to branch out and bring arts to our school,” he said. “And the Dahmen Barn is a wonderful resource. I think it’s going to be a great thing.”