On Sunday, November 28th, Mayor Terry Stark announced the names
of the Oxford Academy Primary school award recipients at the Holiday Tree
Lighting
on the Park ceremony. The winners of the first annual Recycled Holiday Ornament
Contest (which may be a first in New York State), are: Jaret Gates, who won
with three titled entries, "X-mas Alien Space Ship", "X-mas Lantern and Dinosaur
Foot"; Dan Woodford won with two entries, a sparkling light bulb and a glittery
can; and Rece Camadine won with his inventive caterpillar. All are from the
Academy's kindergarten class. There were two winners from the Oxford Academy
second grade class, and they are: Jesse Gates, with his Ferris Wheel and
Sara "Sadie" Gregory with her pop-bottle angel. From the third
grade class, there were also two winners: Corey Hadlock with two hanging paper ornaments
and Danielle Camadine won with her snowman.
The motto, Recycle, Reduce, & Reuse was clearly defined
in this contest by some very creative minds. In some instances, it seems
that the unusual
materials served as motivation, producing some untraditional Holiday ornaments.
Silvery, high-tech CD's were inspirational in the three Gate's ornaments
- Ferris Wheel , Lantern and Alien Space Ship. Like Pop-Art of the 1960's,
Woodford's light bulb and adorned can retained their original shapes, however,
the decorative use of pearlized paint and plenty of sparkling glitter
promoted them to ornament status. Rece Camadine's caterpillar cleverly used
egg carton sections for body segments.
For others, like Danielle Camadine's snowman and the hanging
paper ornaments by Corey Hadlock, they made the materials work with their
subject. Their
designs are similar to traditional themed Christmas tree decorations, very
charming, but with an updated recycled twist . The angel ornament by Sadie
Gregory, falls into this category as well, using materials that are really
quite unique. This winged spirit has a definite fashion sense with a curled
aluminum drop-waist skirt, candy wrappers which suggest gold lamé and
chiffon, silvery pie pan wings and a twist-tie flip hair-do. It s a heavenly
use of keeping trash from the landfill. All are refreshing interpretations
of holiday ornaments, but obviously the kids had fun being creative.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| To enlarge
the images for a better look, just left click on them |
These winning ornaments, with their award ribbons, will be on display in
the Village for the month of December. 6 On the Square has generously
offered to exhibit the ornaments in the window of thier performing arts center which is also an arts/crafts gallery. 6OTS overlooks the Green in Oxford at 15 LaFayette Park. A few other recycled
ornaments made by adults are on display for examples.
The award ribbons, displayed with the ornaments, were created
by the artistic duo from Oxford's crafting shop, Creative Stamping . They're
located at 4 LaFayette Park, right next to 6 On the Square. PON members,
Cindy Shipley
and her jeweler sister, Susan E. Wells, recycled scraps of paper that would
ordinarily be waste material, and transformed them into unique award ribbons.
Aiding Cindy and Susan, was Nancy Cody, a talented card designer, and volunteer
in the Oxford Primary school.
The sponsor, the Oxford Holiday Decorating Committee, received support from the
DEC in the form of printed matter and recycled pencils. The DEC also donated
a colorful, recycled tote bag, which was presented to Oxford Academy principal,
Mrs. Tompkins for her wonderful assistance, and an educational video tape on
Composting was given to the Oxford Memorial Library.
All in all, it was an auspicious start for the new contest. Hopefully, these
students and many more will enter in 2005, so the contest will grow. To prepare
for next year, restock on glitter and decorating supplies from Creative Stamping,
and be sure to look in 6OTS' display window for inspiration for
the New Year's competition.
Congratulations to all the winners!
