Sculpted soapstone, clay totem poles, acrylic paintings, collage, self-portraits, model dream homes, and much more can be seen at the Student Art Show at the Boothbay Region Art Foundation (BRF). The show opened May 9 for a two-weekend run. Last days are Friday, May 16 through Sunday, May 18.

Boothbay Region High School art teacher Manon Lewis and Boothbay Region Elementary School art teacher Jessica Nadeau were at the opening reception on May 11, Mother's Day. Lewis is thrilled to see one of her former students teaching and sharing a love of art to local children.

BRAF manager June Campbell Rose noted the traffic was on the light side, something she attributed to the gorgeous weather and holiday. Thankfully, there are still three days to see the show — and see it you must.

Over 300 artistic works adorn the walls. Some pieces sit on tables, like the dream homes. One is modeled after Justin Bieber's house, and another a tree house veiled in pink. One dream home was constructed of syringes (donated by an out-of-state veterinary office, a Manon connection), broken glass, wine corks (from local bottle redemption centers), ice cream sticks (the ones that came with the “Hoodsie” ice cream cups), stone — you name it. These were created as part of a study segment on Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry.

The eighth grade's clay totem poles standing in pots on the floor are outstanding. Nadeau said students applied black paint to the clay, then while it's still wet, they wiped off the excess paint that adhered to the recesses in the clay faces and symbols. This project followed a three-day lesson on symbolism.

Other pieces, also destined for the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens' interpretive theme of the year, “Pollinators,” include colorful wire flowers and flying insects suspended from the ceiling and a moth mosaic made by the eighth grade of recycled materials.

BRHS Junior Morgan Crocker stopped in on Sunday to check out the show. Crocker has several pieces in the show, an acrylic painting of a sun setting on a sailboat scene and a soapstone dolphin. Lewis said students used several tools to create the smooth pieces so cool to the touch. Hack saw blades are used to cut off pieces of soapstone from the “main stone,” Exacto knives, rasps (coarse files), rifflers, various grades of sand paper and steel wool. Finally, the pieces were rubbed with Vaseline.

Keegan Spear's "Lighthouse" was prominently displayed on an easel near the information desk at the gallery. The piece, comprised of colored tissue paper and graphite, had just been returned from the State House after one year on display as part of the 2013 Student Art Show at the state capital.

In addition to the Boothbay schools, the show is comprised of the works of the students of Robin MacCready at Edgecomb Eddy School and Liz Proffetty at Southport Central School.

Rose, Lewis and Nadeau began hanging the show on May 7. Both teachers began mounting works for the show as early as January.

The doors at the Art Foundation open on the final days of this two-weekend show at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 16, Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18. The gallery closes each day at 5 p.m.

For more information, call the gallery at 207-633-2703.