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Great Falls students use art to highlight anti-meth message

By: Paul Sanchez

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GREAT FALLS — For years, the Montana Meth Project has used public service announcements and community outreach to reduce first-time teen meth use.

In 2006, the organization launched its “Paint The State” contest and since then thousands of Montana teens have used not only billboards but barns and buildings, fields and fences, and more to help drive home the point.

This year, students at the Bass Clef School of Music & Fine Arts in Great Falls have created something special to express the challenges they face growing up in today’s world.

Holly Pickens, the art director for the school, explained, "My students really were instrumental in the idea that we would recycle these vinyl records that we had with the theme of For The Record, each one of these records represents a commitment from one of my students to never try meth, not even once, and also a really beautiful way of sharing with our community how art and music can fill the void needed sometimes for emotional and community support, when we're fighting those things like drugs and problems in our community."

Another entrant in the Paint The State project this year is recent CMR High School graduate Adam Arthur, who created a billboard featuring a bison skeleton engulfed in flames.

“Amphetamines are a stimulant that produces oxidation in the body, similar to actual fire. In fact, it's many of the same chemical processes,” said Arthur. “So the idea of a living creature being consumed by flame just sort of came to me.”