Drawings, intricate aluminum sculptures, cardboard dioramas, metal work, mosaics, canopic jars, clay sculptures and art-deco chairs and skateboards in the style of renowned artists Peter Max and Andy Warhol, are on exhibit in all three galleries in the Kimball Art Center.

The jaw-drop factor is the fact that Park City-area students in grades kindergarten through 12 created all the works.

It’s time for the annual Wasatch Back Student Art Show. This year’s exhibits feature more than 200 works, created by 540 elementary-, middle- and high-school students.

Some of the works included shredded aluminum ostriches, sculpted lizards, curled paper bowls and glass jars containing dangling painted sea creatures.

Students from public, private and charter schools from Summit and Wasatch Counties submitted works for this year’s display.

One of these talented young artists is eleven-year-old Theodore Herring, who attends Park City Day School, has participated in the Wasatch Back Student Art Show five times, but said he will never take the experiences for granted.

“I am very grateful that students in our community are able enter an art show,” Herring told The Park Record. “Other places don’t do this.”

This year, Herring and his classmates made clay sculptures of themselves from the shoulders up.

“I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but it got easier once I started,” he said. “Everything tied together very well.”

One of the features of his “Mini Me,” as he called it, was his shirt and baseball cap.

“I was wearing a checkered shirt when I started sculpting, so I thought I would make it look like it was wearing a checkered shirt,” he said. “My favorite team is the San Francisco Giants, so I made a Giants hat.”

The hat proved to be the most difficult part of the project, Herring said.

“It was hard for me to make sure the visor stayed up instead of having it droop down,” he said. “My favorite part would probably have to be making the ears and nose, because it was fun to shape them.”

Michelle Aldrich, elementary teacher at Soaring Wings Montessori School, said the Wasatch Back Student Art Show helps children build confidence.

“I don’t know of many fantastic opportunities out there that give the kids a chance to create something they are really proud of that gets to be displayed in a real art gallery,” Aldrich said. “They get to take their family members to see their works, and we also go up as a class to see the displays. It confirms the fact that everyone is an artist.”

Aldrich, who teaches first through fifth grade, said her students have been involved in the show for a few years.

“Each year, the process has been the same,” she said. “We get the information in the fall and then our art teacher makes a plan of what the students should work on.”

This year, the art show’s theme was “(Re) Art,” which focused on recycling, Aldrich said.

“The students made art out of items that could be recycled,” she said. “Since some of them have been involved in the past with Recycle Utah projects, there were some older students who liked working with things that they could recycle.”

Since recycling is such a vast theme, the teachers narrowed things down and with a sub-theme The ocean.

“Since we were studying about reptiles as well, things came together quite easily,” Aldrich said. “I don’t recall any student having a hard time getting started. They got right to the project and started creating.”

One of Aldrich’s students, eight-year-old Lauren Dannerback, will display a drawing of sea turtles on recycled paper.

“To get my idea, we looked at all these books with sea turtles in them,” said Dannerback, who also did some art for last year’s exhibit. “I used colored pencils, because I love colors.”

In fact, colors aren’t the only thing Dannerback likes about art.

“I love everything,” she said. “It feels really good to have my drawing on display.”

The Kimball Art Center began the Wasatch Back Student Art Show more than 10 years ago with the goal of promoting visual arts among school-aged children.

“As the community art center, its part of our mission to inspire and engage individuals of all ages and this annual show gives Wasatch Back youth the opportunity to create art and have a venue to display it to the public,” says Robin Marrouche, Executive Director, Kimball Art Center.

The Wasatch Back Student Art Show at the Kimball Art Center, 638 Park Avenue, will run through May 22. Admission is free. An artist reception will be held today, April 16, from noon to 2 p.m. For more information, call (35) 649-8882 or visit www.kimballartcenter.org.