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Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Art Haus program unleashes young imaginations

By CHERYL VASSILIADIS
NEWS-JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT

Ten pairs of eyes follow the wide swath of cardboard as it smooths the billowing clouds of shave foam in the tray. Art instructor Tina Curry asks the students to float color on the top by splattering watercolor drops of blues, reds and yellows onto the smoothed foam surface before each one lays a sheet of paper on top.

Jwaquisha Clark, 10, of New Smyrna Beach, pulls a sheet back to reveal a marbled print. Brother and sister Kyle and Ashley Boyer, 9 and 10, work on making different kinds of prints.

These budding art students are members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Volusia and Flagler Counties chosen to attend art classes arranged by ArtHaus of Port Orange. “The program is a way to reach out and motivate the children and give them some personal time to develop,” Curry said. “It gets them away from the TV and video games. It’s great for these kids, because it gives them an opportunity they may never get.”

Jonathan Griffin and Conradeon Hilton, both 14, have shown talent in drawing superheroes. “This is my superhero G-Unit. He’s hard, he’s strong, he doesn’t take anything from Bin Laden,” Hilton said as he unfurls his large drawing.

“Art lets me put my imagination and emotion on paper,” Griffin said as he held his rendition of a rainbow serpent. He has been drawing since age 2.

In Deltona, artist Diane Hall sets up for the afternoon on picnic tables in a park pavilion. Her group of students gathers around her van, lifting out bags of supplies twice their size. They share duties walking the totes down to the tables and then they pull out their projects.

“I think this one is awesome,” Hall said, pointing to the tiny pieces of paper 8-year-old Ryan Gilleo of Deltona is gluing to create the face on his collage. “I love to present the kids with ideas and see them come back with such creativity and originality. Art is a springboard for their minds to take off,” she added.

Both Curry and Hall are part of a program that employs artists and art teachers in a curriculum of classes taught to groups of 10 students for six-week sessions in locations around Volusia and Flagler counties. Classes include drawing and painting fundamentals, sculpture and assemblage, collages and printmaking.

Kathy Thompson heads the Art Haus program that works with school boards to give recognition to student artwork and give the students a place to exhibit their work as well.

“I believe art is a kind of vehicle,” Thompson said. “This is a way to have an extended art education outside of school. Everyone learns art basics along with gallery conduct and etiquette. And the jewel of this project is that the kids get to keep the box of art supplies.”

Recently, many of the works of art were displayed at an exhibit at The Veterans Gallery at the DeLand Memorial Museum. Collages, art prints and drawings of DeLand’s historical leaders won awards for many of the young artists.

“We want to continue exhibiting the artwork and show how important it is in our lives,” Thompson said, referring to the imaginative prints hanging on the walls of the museum. “We want to continue to foster the love of art because it is trifold — it hits all disciplines. I say art is three-squared because all of the subjects like reading, math and history can be improved through art.”

Funded by a grant, the program has brought together a team of three professional artists and two art teachers to bring new perspectives and imagination to the project.

Curry teaches photography at New Smyrna Beach High School, and has been involved in the Kids in College program at Daytona Beach Community College, working with middle school pupils from 8 to 13. She has taught Claymation, drawing, painting, cartooning, animation and arts and crafts. She said the experience has been good for her, especially when the team meets after each six-week session to talk over both successes and failures.

Hall, an artist from Port Orange, was chosen for the program because of her previous work teaching drawing and art to prisoners.

“I had not worked with kids at that time, and had not taught art classes with kids except during a summer camp at Daytona Beach Community College,” Hall said. “This is something I had wanted to do for a long time. And I’ve really been glad for all the assistance from the teachers, because they have helped me learn to deal with classroom management and discipline issues.”

Joe Sullivan, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Volusia and Flagler counties, said the program worked well because the experts (art teachers) came out to all of the eight sites.

“This is a great partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs,” Sullivan said. “This gives the kids a chance to explore their potential. Most of our staff has backgrounds in academics or sports, but we don’t have a lot of strength in art. Most of us are old gym teachers.”

The program will continue in six weekly sessions four times annually. An exhibition of works from the earlier sessions took place at the ArtHaus Foundation Gallery in November. The next scheduled exhibit of the works from this year will be in Lake Helen in April.

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