Bloom Township High School District hosts fine arts event

Creative arts including sculpting, glass blowing, pottery making, singing and dancing will be featured during the Bloom Township High School District 206's Fine Arts Days event today and Thursday, the district has announced.

Students at Bloom in Chicago Heights and Bloom Trail in Steger will have the opportunity to attend Fine Arts Day sessions at their respective campuses during the two-day program.

Glass blowing demonstrations and musical performances will be open to the public from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Bloom Trail High School, 22331 Cottage Grove Ave. Reservations for that evening's program may be made via email at dfilbin@sd206.org or tinsalaco@sd206.org.

District 206 was awarded an Illinois Arts Council grant to support the event.

Fine Arts Days will include the following presentations and performances:

• Glass blowing demonstrations by professors and students from Southern Illinois University.

• Sculptor Todd Bracik, of Indianapolis, Ind., demonstrating how he creates works of art from scrap metal.

• A musical review featuring Parisian cabaret theater songs, presented by Claudia Hommel in her Souvenirs of Paris program.

• Soli Performing Arts Company, performing African dancing and drumming in authentic attire and using native instruments.

• A presentation about the world of fashion by Nancy Sharpes, representing the Illinois Institute of Arts.

• The Folklorico Ballet in costume performing Hispanic folk dancing.

• Babes With Blades, a company of female actors, demonstrating fighting styles and weapons using Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and "Macbeth plays for context.

• Potter Judy Hubert, creating pottery working with clay on a potter's wheel.

• Demonstrations in the culinary arts by Kendall College professors; District 206 staff members showing how to cook with liquid nitrogen and how to decorate cakes.

• A hands-on workshop on digital animation and sculpting, presented by David Garcia, a comic book and game artist who is a former Bloom student.

• Members of the Bloom Trail Chemistry Club demonstrating how to create "boom whackers," musical instruments made from common household plastic items.

• A tessellation workshop presented by District 206 math instructor Sarah Alford, teaching students how to create tessellations, which are repetitive shapes and images found in art works.