A Hopkinsville Big Read art camp, sponsored by the Pennyroyal Arts Council, will culminate this week with new signage featuring the eight books that have been the community’s Big Read selections since the first in 2014.
Led by Christian County High School art teacher Paula Gieseke, the camp had six participants in a session that coincided with the fall break for local schools. The campers were Jessara Crenshaw, Cheyenne Peterson, Nona Pruitt, Kennedy Moorefield, Madison Campbell and Sahara Peterson.
The students have been painting large wooden panels that will hang outside on the rear wall of the Alhambra Theatre, visible from Weber Street, said arts council education coordinator Molly Campbell.
Each sign resembles a book cover representing the titles for the following Big Read selections: “Maltese Falcon” in 2014; “To Kill a Mockingbird” in 2015; “Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe” in 2016; “Station Eleven” in 2017; “The Things They Carried” and “Our Town” in 2019; “Circe” in 2021; and “There There” in 2022.
Activities for the current Big Read will continue through early November.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
