Billings Inaugurates Kids’ Art by McKinley School

The children from McKinley Elementary School sat on the grass just inside the fence of their schoolyard, while across the street in a little triangular park, the adults cut the ribbon on the latest community art.  Joined by Mayor Bill Cole and other local dignitaries, the city's Artist in Residence Terri Porta presented the modern work "Funky Frames."

With the technical assistance of welder Adam Paulson, "Funky Frames is a collaboration with students from McKinley Elementary and the CARE after-school academy at Highland Elementary, with the support from organizations, sponsors and the advisory committee.  Alise Monat was given the Star Award from the City of Billings for her above-and-beyond work on the project.

When "passing the baton" to Mayor Cole, he joked he would rather take the cool artsy jacket Porta wore for the showing.

"We want a community," Cole remarked. "A community is different for everybody.  Like this Terri Porta pink, a community is vibrant.  A community is unique.  It's not just a giant community of 120,000 people, but pockets of individuals, pockets of groups."

"Let's just make this the beginning of many great things to come.  Thank You."

You can find this display on North 32nd Street and Avenue C, the second such art discovery along the new Billings neighborhood bikeway.

The next community art ribbon cutting in this series will be June 20th at North Park.

After the speeches and the ribbon cutting, the patient students' and the attendees were treated to ice cream.