Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Fisher Middle School sixth-grader Jessica Biondi works on a Chinese brush painting during a recent Art Docents' workshop.

The Starting Point of Art

By Shari Kaplan

The Art Docents of Los Gatos' 21st annual Children's Art show is slated to run May 28-31 in the cafeteria of Fisher Middle School, located at 17000 Roberts Road. This year's show, The Starting Point, features works of art by Los Gatos Union School District students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

"It seemed to be representative of kids and art and learning about their own creativity and what they can do with their imagination," said Art Show co-chairwoman Laurie Lenhart about the title of this year's show.

"Kids learn that they can all be artists. And each piece of art gets a participation ribbon. There is no judge or jury."

Putting the "mix" into mixed media, this year's show comprises more than 2,000 pieces of art, including drawings in crayon or pastel, paintings (including self-portraits), tempera monoprints, collages, murals, foil sculpture, ceramics and clay and projects by middle school wood shop and metal shop students. Lenhart adds that she has noticed a growing trend of student interest in three-dimensional art.

Among the many unique contributions are colorful square quilts created by third-graders, Native American designs drawn by fourth-graders and a 9-by-15-foot mural painted by sixth-graders.

According to Lenhart, most submissions are excerpts from class art projects, although a few are the result of projects students completed at Art Docent-led art workshops.

"The show is a celebration of children and art that the docents like to recognize. The goal is to have one work of art from every child in the district," Lenhart said. "By and large, it's classroom work teachers have done with their students over the year."

The art is not organized by grade level, but rather by theme, although there is no hard and fast rule. Eye appeal is the main factor, Lenhart said, in deciding what goes where in the cafeteria. Ribbons are color-coded so students and other viewers can readily identify contributions from each school.

"It's not a cafeteria any more; it's a museum that week!" she adds.

The Children's Art Show is free and is open from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Friday, when it closes at 1 p.m. A reception will be held May 30 from 5 to 9 p.m. For more information, call the Art Docents office at 358-1185.