News Release

PA Turnpike and PA Council on the Arts Spark Creativity at Somerset Area School District
High School students to unveil ‘Art Sparks’ project at South Somerset Service Plaza.

(Somerset, PA – May 8, 2018) — The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) are pleased to announce the unveiling of a new art project designed and created by students at Somerset Area High School in Somerset, PA.

Coordinated through the PCA’s regional Arts in Education partner, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, students worked closely with teaching artist, Martha Murphy, and art teacher, Kayla Borosky, to design and create the piece, which depicts the Laurel Highlands region through the change of these seasons.

The public and media are invited to see the unveiling of “Creative Colors of the Laurel Highlands” on:

                May 10 at 10:30 a.m.
               South Somerset Service Plaza (milepost 112 eastbound on PA rnpike)
               328 Industrial Park Road
               Somerset, PA 15501

“It’s amazing how art brings people together,” says PTC CEO Mark Compton. “This project proves how young people can use their imaginations, work together and create something beautiful that motivates others.”

This is the third art piece created through Art Sparks, a partnership between the PCA’s Arts in Education residency program and the PTC bringing student-created artwork to service plazas across the PTC’s more than 550-mile system.

Art Sparks is a partnership between the PTC and the PCA. The program pairs K-12 art students and teaching artists from the PCA’s Arts in Education roster with the goal of installing a local, student-created artwork in every service plaza, system-wide, over the next five to eight years. Schools near each respective service plaza host 20-day teaching artist residencies led by a local PCA teaching artist. Students work with the artist and members of the community to create artwork that reflects the region.

The King of Prussia Service Plaza located at milepost 328 westbound in Montgomery County will be the next site for an Art Sparks artwork unveiling on June 21. For more information on Art Sparks, visit  http://www.paturnpike.com/artsparks or http://www.arts.pa.gov/Pages/Art-Sparks.aspx