By Sandra Tragesser
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

For the past 28 years The Art School for Children and Young Adults at UH-Clear Lake has taught more than art to the community. Students gain cultural understanding and learn life skills through art.

Art provides children with a way to document who they are and to learn about all the different cultures, said Dawn Laird, Clear Creek Independent School District art teacher. "It opens up a new world that doesn't exist anymore, the past and we relate it to where we are now."

"We have studied ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Middle Ages," said Mary Ann Boykin, director of The Art School for Children and Young Adults. "The younger children learn art history and culture; they learn about the people and how they lived. The children work at their own pace and their own level."

The children have motivational time each class, where they receive background on the time period, the individual artists and their works, Boykin said.

"They are empowered to be their own artist. In each cultural study we have done, the children see that people have made major contributions. It is important for them to recognize that this is their time period, on the great timeline of the world, and that they can make contributions to make the world a better place."

"A young child's first communication on paper is drawing," said Joan Cortingley, parent. "It is such an important part of young children's education to express their ideas and their knowledge of the world through drawing."

The art program has influenced kids to seek fine art careers later in life. Cortingley, a local resident, sent all three of her children to classes at the art school from when they were in kindergarten until they finished high school.

"I decided to put them in art classes at UH-Clear Lake in the young people's art program because there were no specialized art classes in the elementary schools," Cortingley said.

With the help of Boykin and the art school staff, Cortingley's son, Christopher, was accepted to Ringling School of Art and Design in Florida. He is majoring in computer animation.

Children display their artwork. From top to bottom: Sarah Killingsworth, John and William Coggins, Kate Freeman and Billy McAlister (left).
photos by Sandra Tragesser








"My son hasn't taken any formal art classes in his school career, yet he was able to get a place in a top-ranking art college," Cortingley said. "I think that really is a testimony to the quality of the children's art program at the university."

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