Discover the Artist in your child

By CarolinProft on Fri, Apr 18, 2008 8:51 am

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Wheelock students were well prepared on Friday when 78 kids from Otis Elementary School hurried through the main entrance where snacks and drinks awaited them. Instructor of the Art Department and director of the Towne Art Gallery Erica Licea-Kane gives them a first idea what the day would be like and why they are actually here.

“Our main idea is to give children the possibility to get in touch with art so that they are able to develop their skills and personalities,” says Erica Licea-Kane who works as a professor at the College Art Department.

After getting a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education at the Wheelock College, Gary Silverstein thought children in Elementary Schools should develop a closer relationship with art. Regrettably, he passed away when he was 35 years old. A memorial art fund named after Gary Silverstein was created on the one year anniversary of his death, in 1993.

Lang, one of the students from Otis Elementary, admired the clouds in a painting hanging in the Towne Art Gallery.. “We just don’t have that much time at school to draw a lot of pictures with watercolors”. Lang's classmates copied the pictures, painted by kids their age, who are students at Boston Public Schools.

Next door, students were instructed to draw about their experiences from that morning and just two seconds later most of them were immersed in their work. Wheelock student Rebecca is one of the girls who helped to get this day organized. As a visual Art student she knows how much art education is needed in public schools: “I am going to be an art therapist for children and adults. Art helps to handle stress and the daily life.” Rebecca herself turned from a shy girl into a very enthusiastic young woman when her neighbor introduced her to the world of art: “I didn’t even like to hear my name. But now, look at me. I enjoy my life and the people around me.”

Wheelock College welcomes Public School students to come by and admire the work of their peers. The gallery is open to the public, but the exhibit ends April 18th.