Every year, the Sitka Summer Music Festival commissions for its poster art a signature piece of work from an Alaskan artist - acclaimed artists such as Byron Birdsall, Rie Munoz, Barbara Lavallee, and Dale DeArmond, to name just a handful. This year, we chose a group of young artists to define and represent the June concert series. What you see here is the result of that collaborative process. Fifty students in Blatchley Middle School's Art Choral Exploration Program spent four months creating this oil-pastel mosaic, which is comprised of thousands of thumbnail-sized pieces of painted pape painstakenly glued to backing board. Art instructor David Lass says the 8th graders are extremely proud of their achievement. He says he hopes they will, "look back at the experience and be amazed that they had this opportunity". The artwork will be available for purchase on t-shirts, posters, and notecards. The painting will be officially unveiled before the public on May 12th at the Sitka Performing Arts Center, during the Blatchley Middle School concert. An article about the students' poster by Daily Sitka Sentinel reporter Shannon Haugland can be viewed at www.sitkasentinel.com.