The popular annual art exhibit by students from Lewiston Middle School returns to the college Museum of Art next month. The exhibit will open with a reception at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, and run through March 21.

If past years are any indication, about 100 seventh- and eighth-graders will each show a piece of art in the exhibit. Media will include drawing and painting, masks, ceramics, mosaics, prints and sculpture. Some students may also show work, either animated pieces or drawings, created on laptop computers supplied through the Maine Learning Technology Initiative.

The benefits of this exhibit will go beyond providing the students with a venue for their work. It will also afford an inside view of museum procedures, explains Kate Cargile, one of the school’s two art teachers. “It’s a good experience for them to learn not only to make art, but ways that different people can participate in the art world,” Cargile says.

The annual exhibit is one aspect of an ongoing relationship between the middle school and the college. Bates’ Adopt-a-School Program is administered by the Center for Service-Learning, which engages students and faculty with community service in a variety of ways. Bates’ involvement has also supported the middle school library and provided a breakfast for students graduating to Lewiston High School, among other projects.

For more information about the museum, please call 207-786-6158.

The seventh- and eighth-graders will show works that include drawing and painting, masks, ceramics, mosaics, printmaking, wire sculpture and pastels.

“When the students and families attend the opening, they have a sense of pride that the work is hanging in an art gallery,” says Kay Allison, who teaches art at the middle school. “It’s a way of recognizing students talented in the arts.”

“Exhibiting in a gallery setting gives the student a sense of worth,” she says. “The work is matted and hung, or placed under Plexiglas. It adds a polished look.”

The annual exhibit is one aspect of an ongoing relationship between the middle school and the college. Bates’ Adopt-a-School Program is administered by the college’s Center for Service-Learning, which engages students and faculty with community service in a variety of ways. Bates’ involvement has also supported the middle school’s library and provided breakfast for students graduating to Lewiston High School, among other projects.

Admission to the museum is free and open to the public. For more information about the exhibit, please call 207-786-6158.

“This Cultural Heritage Night is just one step in attempting to promote understanding of different cultures in our middle school and in the city of Lewiston,” said LMS Principal Maureen LaChapelle.

Under the direction of their French teacher, Michel Courchesne, eighth-grade LMS students will present work they have completed about the local Franco-American community. Somali students from the LMS English-as-a-Second-Language program, taught by teacher Becca Smith and ed tech Pam Snowe and assisted by Bates College students Danika Helb, Jennifer Bailey and Julie Gage, will also make presentations. The school’s Civil Rights Team, advised by teacher Beth Woodhead and guidance counselor Deanna Marken, will address the gathering, while Mohammed Abdi, the LMS community coordinator, will discuss Somali culture.

The event is sponsored by the Lewiston Middle School Parent Teacher Partnership Organization. “We hope knowledge and understanding will lead to acceptance and friendship,” said Tom Robustelli, president of the parent group.