Show Contrasts Art of Foreign, County Schoolchildren

If you could see all the works at the Modern Museum of Art’s current youth art exhibit in one glance, two items would command immediate attention: a wall of African masks made of seeds and beans and a bold watercolor called “The Cheerleaders” by an 11-year-old South African.

You might assume that the masks, like the watercolor, had been created by Africans until you discover that works by children from foreign countries hang on one side of the museum and American creations hang on the other side. As it happens, the masks were crafted by Santa Ana schoolchildren and hang in the “American wing,” while the “Cheerleaders” hangs across the great, white room.

Providing a provocative contrast between the works of local and foreign schoolchildren, the two collections are part of the Santa Ana museum’s “Major Art/Minor Artists exhibit on display through Aug. 4.

The show--the museum’s first “children’s month” event--includes about 400 works by Santa Ana students and 47 pieces from foreign lands. The local art was produced by the Special Studio program of the Santa Ana Unified School District, headed by Helen Seigel and Joycelyn Dixon. The international works were collected by the Children’s Art Foundation of Santa Cruz.

With Egyptian felt-tip pen drawings, Hungarian linoleum prints, Japanese block painting and Swiss watercolors on one side of the gallery, and yarn paintings, watercolor collages and bean masks on another, visitors can compare subjects and media chosen by the two groups, reflecting traditions of their homelands.

Hungarian prints depict ethnic dancing and hare-hunting; paintings from Sri Lanka show women working on the bank of a river; American drawings show children moving to a new house and gathering outside a schoolyard, and felt-pen drawings from the Soviet Union use architectural principles to depict fantasy buildings.

As if the yarn paintings, kaleidoscope designs and watercolor collages don’t provide enough exuberance, the museum has soft-sculptured “people” stationed in a corner and dangling from a swing set between the two collections.

Adding another dash of color is the series of murals, painted on an outside wall by children from eight local schools, celebrating Orange County’s centennial. Toward the back of the local works are a parade of papier-mache heads by Madison Elementary School students, life-size “body dolls” from the same school and glistening glitter-fish pictures by students at Sepulveda Elementary School.

In general, the foreign works are more controlled, more predictable and involve more traditional materials. They are bold and powerful but follow more rules than the American works. On the other side of the room are bursts of color from unpredictable bits of marble, yarn, fabric and seedpods.

As far as this show goes, American individuality may be more than just a cliche.

“Major Art/Minor Artists” continues through Aug. 4 at the Modern Museum of Art, 5 Hutton Centre Drive, Santa Ana. Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission: free. Information: (714) 754-4111.