The Tarble Arts Center often hosts exhibits and galleries that are for Eastern students to view.

However, a program that dates back to more than a decade helps high school students learn different art forms and types of art.

The Junior and Senior High School Student Enrichment Program began in the early 1990s. This year the exhibit is titled “Vodou Flags from Haiti.” The exhibit runs to Feb. 22.

“The idea of the program is to introduce secondary level students to new and challenging art forms and concepts,” said Kit Morice, director of the program. “It gives them a chance to learn from objects in a museum setting, and we do a hands-on project that somehow relates to the content of the exhibition.”

The program is open to any secondary level student in an eight-county radius.

“I send out invitations to all of the (high school) art teachers,” Morice said. “We have about a 45- to 50-mile radius.”

Students then reserve their time and the program is filled on a first-come, first-serve basis, Morice said.

Students stay on the campus for two and half hours, spending a half an hour at the exhibition and then two hours in a classroom that discusses the exhibition.

The focus for this year’s program is contemporary art forms and that is also what the “Vodou Flags from Haiti” entails, Morice said.

“(This year’s) exhibit is multicultural, but it ranges from regional to international in terms of the types of art we tie into,” Morice said. “I design my program around whatever exhibition we are working with.”

Essentially, the goal of the entire program is to get secondary students more involved with art and different art forms, Morice said.

The program is offered at no cost and is done in cooperation with the Art Education area of the EIU Art Department.

*Tarble Arts Center is located on South Ninth Street and Cleveland Avenue.

Hours:

Tuesday – Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday: 1-4 p.m.