Early Friday morning, Elina Sarecha, a fourth-grade Belair Elementary student, was thrilled to be at school. As a member of the school's art club, she had arrived early to help her teacher set up the gymnasium for the big cooperative art project the district is undertaking this fall.
Called "Cargo Truck: Mideast Meets Midwest," the program is a collaboration between several Kansas City professional artists and Atelier CMS Inc., a not-for-profit visual arts program based in Jefferson City. Atelier is the group that organizes "Art Inside the Park," an initiative to boost education and awareness of public art.
As part of the "Cargo Truck" project, artists will be converting a 1952 Chevrolet grain truck into an ornately decorated cargo truck, like the ones common to Pakistan. Once finished, the truck - stocked with useful large-scale art supplies - will be used as a mobile art laboratory.