By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Students at Valley Intermediate School recently turned the school’s hallways into an art gallery as they displayed professional-caliber pieces ranging from cats to Christmas trees.

From Dec. 13-15, the school’s hallways will be lined with 60 paintings created by every classroom at the school during the VIS second-annual art auction.

Through the auction, each classroom in the school created two paintings according to their grade level’s themes. Third-graders created pictures of hearts and targets, fourth-graders painted pictures of dogs and cats and fifth-grade students painted birds and butterflies.

“Every child got to work on at least one painting,” said VIS art teacher Sherri Campbell. “These paintings were all six- to eight-week projects.”

The kids also named each piece titles such as “Midnight songbirds,” “Wings on the summer wind” and “Space kitties.”

During the three-day auction, the photos will hang in the hallways with bid sheets taped beneath them. At 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, the person with the top bid on each painting will take it home. Winners not at the school will be notified by phone or email on Dec. 16.

All proceeds raised during the auction will be used to purchase materials for the school’s art department. Last year’s auction raised $1,400 for the school.

On Dec. 14, many paintings already had several bids, and were approaching double their original asking price.

“They really love it, and I think it’s a rich experience for them,” Campbell said. “I don’t think I could paint some of these as an adult. They really put their personalities into it.”

To view a slideshow of the art in the auction, visit Shelbyed.k12.al.us/schools/vis.