by Mel Wells
The Marion L. Miller Gallery at the Portland Art Museum had a different type of exhibit during the WITS reading for Lincoln High School students. After working with cartoonist and illustrator Jonathan Hill for a semester, students in Emily Hensley’s class created comics based on The Great Gatsby and presented them for an audience of peers, parents, friends, and community members. They were joined by other student writers from Geoff Clark, Cindy Irby, Zoe Edelen Hare, and Ben Malbin’s classes, who had worked with WITS writers Amy Minato and Alex Behr. Students who worked with Minato wrote pieces inspired by works of art in the museum, and these works (or close facsimiles when copyright issues arose) were projected behind them as they read. PAM docent Roger summed up the evening when he talked about how impressed he was by students’ creativity and insights. It was a fun, multi-media event and we want to thank all those who helped us have great residencies at Lincoln!
