Sixteen A.P.P.L.E. students and one mentor have their work on display at The Gallery for the rest of the month.

They were honored Friday afternoon with an opening reception.

Morgan Jenkins said she painted several pieces – including a scene from “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” a color wheel clock, two sunflowers and a monochromatic self-portrait.

Studio instructor Allise Whitworth read the novel the “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” by C.S. Lewis to the students.

“I did that to get them to listen,” she said. “They come to me after a full day of class.”

Jenkins said she was supposed to paint a scene from the book.

“This was my first time on canvas,” she said. “And my first time in a gallery.”

Whitworth taught the sixth, seventh and eighth graders, how to mix colors.

“We learned about different shade and tints,” she said. “Allise told us not to think you can’t; you can if you just try.”

Jenkins said on one sunflower piece they worked in pastels and another they learned to copy.

On the monochromatic self-portrait, they used only four colors – black, white, raw umber and yellow ochre.

Jahdiya Lowery said the clock was her first piece.

She said she enjoyed Whitworth teaching them about primary, secondary and tertiary colors.

“It was kind of difficult to put the clock together,” she said. “You couldn’t bend the hands.”

Lowery said her favorite part was learning to mix colors.

“Think about crayons that are already made,” she said. “There are so many colors. When I could make my own colors, I became more interested in art.”

Her sunflower piece is her most favorite.

“It was a quick, two-day job,” she said. “But I love how the colors turned out. I got it on a bigger canvas. I feel so accomplished with the colors.”

Zion Williams said she loved learning about the different types of colors, and enjoyed making the clock, which was a complex process.

She said they used graphite and colored the color wheel.

She said she took art last year, as well.

She said working in primary colors was her favorite, and she enjoyed reading “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

Zoe’e Bush said her favorite piece was the clock.

“I took art classes in first grade,” she said.

With Whitworth’s class, Bush said she learned not to blend with your fingers, but to blend with your mind, and if you turn a portrait a certain way you can see it differently.

Barbara Tyler, who coordinates the A.P.P.L.E. program praised Whitworth.

“Alisse volunteered her time Mondays and Thursdays,” she said. “She has a lot of expertise. She inspired these kids to get this far.”

Tyler said the students kept journals.

“Alisse has been a godsend,” she said. “She ran three workshops. Some attended all three.”

Whitworth said that the students were very teachable.

“Art is very important for child development and brain development,” she said. “The workshops were set up so that different kids could come at different times.”

She said the students got better at mixing colors, learned about Vincent Van Gogh and learned to turn their photos upside down or sideways.

“When you do that your mind doesn’t say, ‘That’s a leaf,’” she said. “They had to depend on eyes to see what it was.”

She said art is a series of problem solving and decision-making.

“They also gained confidence.”

She also said that The Gallery and Hendrix Picture Framing framed the artwork.

Participating in the exhibition are:

Zanyiah Anderson, Brayden Awalt, Zoe’e Bush, Tina Curry, Brianna Florence, Desmond Florence, Hailey Fowler, Mark Hill, Morgan Jenkins, Courtlyn Knight, Jahdiya Lowery, Matthew Mitchell, Mya Mitchell, Kendrell Moxley, Kinsley Smallwood, Zion Williams and Brianna Yelder.