There is a place where imaginary friends are still best friends and cardboard boxes can be spaceships and time machines.
Vast imaginations transformed the Southwestern College Student Art Gallery at the 7th Annual Child Development Center Art Exhibit. It featured brilliant drawings, watercolor paintings, sculptures and photography of students ages 2-5.
CDC program serves SWC staff, students and members of neighboring communities, providing daycare and early education for their children. Unlike traditional daycares, CDC encourages kids to explore their artistic intellect.
Director Patricia Bartow said other schools are mostly concerned with children getting the right answers, while the CDC focuses on free expression and creativity.
“We really foster their individual thinking and who they are,” she said. “What’s important to us is what’s up here and in here,” she said, pointing to her mind and heart.
Inspired by the Reggio Emilio School in Italy, Bartow and her colleagues encourage children to explore their environment and express themselves through their natural languages, including art.
Mini GQ boys and Glamour girls in red carpet attire showed off their masterworks to their proud families. Avery Brunner, 2, made watercolors clash for dominance. A battle set upon a white canvas displayed more peace than aggression, as mixtures of green, blue and orange toward integration.
Reid Lorente, 3, used primary colors to create an infusion of watercolor. Black marker streaks chaotically drawn atop his painting wrangled his colors under control and gave depth to a work more than half his size.
Evan Carpenter brought his favorite animal, the giraffe, to life with use of a bright yellow, contrasted by hundreds of brown dots. Above to his giraffe was a whale and below were two lions.
Outlined in black marker, Carpenter accentuated his giraffe by surrounding it with other
colorless animals.
Although they can count their age on one hand, these blooming artists used their little fingers for digital photography. Students captured black and white portrait photos of their classmates and friends. Adorable smiles, burst of laughter and serious mugs rounded out a mural of moments frozen in time, where these artists will not grow out of their creativity as they age.
