All but three of 52 sixth graders took to the runway Monday at Hoxsie Elementary School, where an end-of-the-year Art Fashion Show was performed for students, teachers, and parents. Students who participated chose an artist of their preference, the majority of which included work of the impressionists, surrealists, abstract, and modern artists.

In past years, the students painted an interpretation of an artist of their choosing onto white t-shirts. This year, however, with the number of snow days and time away from the art classroom, students were limited to printmaking, a process in which the students sketch their work onto linoleum and then carve it.

“We did a trial on paper and then they printed directly onto the t-shirts,” Hoxsie art teacher Kim Markarian said. The students also sported pendants that reflected their personal interests. In past years, the pendants were modeled from Model Magic. This year, however, the students were fortunate enough to have crafted the pendants from low-fire clay in a kiln that the school had acquired a few years back.

Standing in the all-purpose room before a laminate runway designed by the students, each of the sixth graders spoke briefly into a microphone to inform the audience of the artist they had chosen, that artist’s style, and the title of the piece they had chosen to work with.

Amid several admirers of the work of Pablo Picasso, other students had chosen artists among the likes of MC Escher, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Georgia O’Keefe, Claude Monet, Salvador Dali, and Leonardo DaVinci. Students graced the runway with youthful confidence; many shared high-fives with their younger peers, others engaged humor into their walks, and others regarded their time on the runway, posing for cameras and basking in the spotlight.

Enthusiasm and smiles reigned as Hoxie’s sixth graders united as a class for a grand finale down the runway. The event was especially bittersweet for Markarian, who has been an influence for these students since they were first graders, having the opportunity to see them grow and achieve in expression though their art.

“I think that art is such a great thing for students because it gives them the opportunity to express themselves. I like to have the kids feel better about what they do. It’s all about including people,” said Markarian. She was named state Elementary Art Teacher of the Year in 2013.

Principal Gary McCoombs seemed to agree with the title, shouting from down the hall, coffee mug in hand: “Best Art teacher in the state, not just the city!”

Aside from the students expressing interest in artistic venture, Hoxsie’s Art Fashion Show is beneficial to its student artists in another way.

“They’ll learn to speak in front of an audience,” Markarian said. “It’s a morale booster.”

Post-performance, sitting at classroom desks with expressions of keen exuberance and a job-well-done, a select number of the sixth-grade artists provided insight into why they had chosen to research their particular artist, like Daniel Johnson, who had chosen DaVinci because of his work doing self-portraits. Deirdre McCaffrey chose Dutch artist MC Escher because she wanted to work with something more realistic.

Haley Gonella researched the work of French impressionist Claude Monet because of her connection to his painting “Water Lily Pond.”

The class of soon-to-be graduating elementary students showed a fond appreciation not just for these artists’ work, but for art, as Markarian put it, “as a vehicle to communicate with the world.”

Hoxsie’s Nurse and Health teacher and Deirdre’s mother, Deirdre McCaffrey, though, put it best: “All of this happens because of Kim.”