Wall-to-wall art is the best way to describe the Troy City Schools Art Show tonight at The Studio in downtown Troy.

The show will feature more than 300 works of art by students from all three Troy City Schools, grades K-12.

The annual school-wide art show and reception will be from 5 until 7 p.m. and everyone is invited.

“The Art Show features drawings, paintings, mixed media and even sculptures,” said Pam Smith, Charles Henderson High School art teacher and coordinator of the show. “We have a sampling from all three schools. From Charles Henderson High School, we’ll have a variety of artwork from the junior and senior level classes and I’ve selected pieces from our beginning Art I and II students.”

Smith said the art teachers from the middle and elementary school have selected between 75 and 100 pieces of artwork from their students.

“We all strive for variety so the Art Show is very interesting and gives a wide sampling of all that we do,” Smith said.

The Troy City Schools Art Show was an idea that found legs nearly two decades ago.

“I’ve been teaching in the area for about 20 years, and we started doing an art show a few years after I came,” Smith said. “The Art Show started small. The first show was in the foyer of the old Regions Bank on the square. We showcased a few pieces and it was a successful beginning.”

When full-time art teachers became a reality at all three schools, the budding art programs featured their own in-school shows and then produced a big-time show by talented young artists.

“The students enjoyed seeing their own artwork on display but a main reason that we combined the shows was so that the students could see the work of other students,” Smith said. “The younger students can benefit from seeing what the older students are doing, and the older students are impressed by what the younger students can do.”

The parents of the young artists and the Troy community also benefit from the citywide art show.

The Annual Troy City Schools Art Show is a good opportunity for parents to see their children’s work on display and for the community to see what is going on in the art program as a whole.

“No matter what age, the students get excited about their work being on exhibit,” Smith said. “Especially, when it’s displayed outside the classroom and outside the school. That makes the students feel very special.”

Smith said hopes are that parents and friends of the art students will attend tonight’s reception and that the community will lend its support as well.

The art teachers, Smith at CHHS, Jennifer Lindsey at Troy Elementary School and Jennifer Sullivant at Charles Henderson Middle School, expressed appreciation to the Education Foundation of Troy City Schools for its long-standing support of the art programs.

“The Education Foundation has supported us with grants that make it possible for us to do things we would not be able to do otherwise and we are very appreciative,” Smith said.