Mayfield High School students are having their photos exhibited in a gallery show in Little Italy.
Serafino Gallery, 11917 Mayfield Road, will display "Speaking in Pictures" – works by 10 special needs students – through April 8. An opening reception will be held from 6-9 p.m. today.
Special education teacher Timothy Averre said he started the project, "So that the students would be able to communicate in a more creative way than is usually available to them."
Students were provided digital cameras and specialized equipment such as a Bogen Magic Arm to stabilize the camera on a wheelchair and sent on photo scavenger hunts.
"We told them what needed to be taken – the color red, traffic signs," Averre said. "Some of these pictures are from these excursions."
Cameras and equipment were purchased with a $1,000 grant from the Mayfield Alliance and $750 donation from the Academic Boosters. Averre said this is the first time this type of project has been done, but he would like it to become an annual part of the class.
To afford ink, paper and other supplies, however, he's hoping some of the photos will sell at the gallery exhibit. Costs for framed, matted works are $150 for a 16-inch-by-20-inch photo, $75 for an 11-inch-by-14-inch and $35 for an 8-inch-by-10-inch.
Averre said the gallery idea came about after he saw the results of the photo project.
"Some of the photos being created were pretty aesthetically interesting," he said. "And I happened to have a connection with a gallery."
He added that students were excited that their photos are going to be in a gallery.
"I think most of them are still processing the idea," Averre said. "We were all pretty excited when we got to the gallery and starting setting up."
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