Freeport will unveil two Bernard Langlais acquisitions and student works that pay homage to the Maine artist.

Two works by celebrated Maine folk artist Bernard Langlais, and creations by young local students inspired by him, will be on display at the Freeport Performing Arts Center Edwards Gallery on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

The Langlais paintings will be unveiled during a public reception from 5-6 p.m., followed by a showing of Langlais-inspired works created by gifted-and-talented students from Regional School Unit 5 schools.

Thomas Edwards, principal of Freeport High from 1996-2006 and gallery namesake, applied for a grant from the Wisconsin-based Kohler Foundation, established in 1940 to support the arts and education. The gift of the two Langlais paintings are the result. One will be hung at Freeport High School, and the other at the Freeport Community Center.

Born in Old Town, Langlais (1921-1977) made a splash in the art world in the 1960s with his abstract wood reliefs. He had a solo exhibition at the prestigious Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City in 1961. In 1966, Langlais returned to Maine to live and work in Cushing. He constructed more than 100 large-scale wood sculptures on the land around his home.

In 2010, Colby College received a large bequest of his artworks from the artist’s widow, Helen. In December 2012, according to the Kohler Foundation, Colby made a gift of nearly 3,000 Langlais artworks to the foundation.

“We intend to preserve and ultimately gift these works, which include wood reliefs, paintings, sculptures and works on paper, to non-profit institutions throughout Maine and the United States, enabling other communities to enjoy Langlais’ spirited art,” the foundation says on its website.

Kimberly Medsker, art teacher at Freeport High, said that Edwards remains much involved in Freeport High.

“Tom is still very much invested in the school environment and often guest speaks in my (advanced-placement) art history class,” Medsker said. “Tom applied to the Kohler Foundation for the two Langlais paintings last year and then was given the list of works to choose from.”

Edwards is vacationing in Florida and was not available for comment.

One of the Langlais paintings is being kept at the RSU 5 superintendent’s office, and the other is being stored at the Freeport Community Center.

The painting at the Freeport Community Center is an untitled oil on canvas, depicting still life, bottle and fruit. Langlais painted it in the 1950s, and the painting measures 38-by-30 inches.

The painting being stored at the RSU 5 office, from the early 1950s, also is untitled. It depicts chairs with plants and landscape, and is oil on masonite. The painting measures 351?4-by-28 inches.

Medsker said that all Freeport High School art students have been learning about Langlais for the past few weeks.

“They have, and still are, creating some pretty incredible drawings, paintings, and sculptures in honor of the work of Langlais,” she said. “We have been focusing on his love of animals and drawing/painting directly from little animal toys. In addition, students from the elementary and middle schools have also been creating Langlais-inspired work and they will also be exhibiting their work in the Edwards Gallery.”

The Langlais-inspired works are not confined to high school students. Isla Wilson and Zander VanBrugh, students at Mast Landing School in Freeport, were two of 40 gifted-and-talented students from RSU 5 schools who traveled to the Colby College Museum of Art in December to view the vast collection of Langlais’ works there.

“I like to look at work from all different famous artists,” VanBrugh said. “I guess I liked his drawings the most because I love drawing. Langlais inspired me to start drawing lions, which I love, and I think I am pretty good at it.”

“Going to the museum was a great experience,” Wilson said. “I knew right away, looking at his work that I wanted to make a giraffe out of felt. Felt and hot glue together are not a great experience, though.”

The group that visited the Colby museum is part of the RSU 5 Gifted-and-Talented Extension (GaTE) Visual Arts program.

The students spend extra class time each week on visual arts.

When they returned home, the students began work on their own art inspired by Langlais. Their art will be unveiled with the Langlais originals at the Feb. 25 opening.

Susan Templeton-Bush, a gifted-and-talented strategist at Mast Landing School, Morse Street School in Freeport and at Pownal Elementary School, made the trip to Colby with the students.

“They did at least three or four sketches, based on Bernard Langlais’ work, for over two hours,” Templeton-Bush said. “I love him as an artist, because there was something for everyone. It was so inspiring for them. At first they all wanted to copy, but they found different ways to create, rather than just copying. (The opening) will be a fantastic experience for the community. It took a lot of legwork.”

Templeton-Bush said she consulted with Medsker last fall. The two discussed the Langlais paintings and the collection at Colby, and scheduled the December field trip.

Fiona Wilson, Isla Wilson’s mother, said that her daughter has been working on painting, drawings and collages based on Langlais’ art.

“I think it’s really wonderful that the teachers of RSU 5, led by Sarah Templeton, are being so creative,” Wilson said. “Bernard Langlais was a very prolific and successful Maine artist. His art sort of speaks to children, because it involves a lot of animals.”

Langlais’ art was an eye-opener to Maysa O’Connor, a sixth-grader at Durham Community School.

“I had never seen wood used in art that way, it was very interesting,” O’Connor said. “I tried to use the pattern of fitting the wood together so that it created shapes and patterns.”

Two untitled paintings by Bernard Langlais will be unveiled on Feb. 25 at the Freeport Performing Arts Center. Courtesy photosTwo untitled paintings by Bernard Langlais will be unveiled on Feb. 25 at the Freeport Performing Arts Center. Courtesy photosDehlia Mitchell-Gray, a senior taking advanced-placement studio art at Freeport High School, painted this large bird after studying the works of Bernard Langlais. Mitchell-Gray’s painting will be among the student works on display during a public reception on Feb. 25 at The Freeport Performing Arts Center. Courtesy photosZander VanBrugh, a student at Mast Landing School in Freeport, sketched this horse from a Bernard Langlais wooden sculpture she saw during a visit to the Colby College Museum of Art, which has more than 3,000 of Langlais’ works.Isla Wilson sketched a Bernard Langlais painting of a hippo during a visit to the Colby Museum of Art in December. Wilson is a student at Mast Landing School in Freeport.Jordan Mason, a senior taking advanced-placement studio art at Freeport High School, was inspired by the works of Bernard Langlais to create this mixed media of a gorilla, using ink and masking tape.