Bold Strokes by Little Folks : Hands-On Museum Program Draws Youngsters to Art

With confident strokes, Morgan Russell enlivens her latest work with bold swaths of bright red tempera. Satisfied, she sits back on her paint-splattered tennies and surveys her artistry: a free-spirited rendering of a house with brilliant orange windows and blue-gray smoke pouring from a spindly white chimney.

Inspired by slides of David Hockney’s chaotically colored mural “Mulholland Drive,” Russell, 6, and her fellow artists in the Newport Harbor Art Museum’s “Art After School” program worked in pencil, crayon and tempera last week to create their own mini-murals based, very loosely, on Pacific Coast Highway.

The class was the final session in a four-part series offered by the museum in cooperation with the Newport Beach Parks, Beaches and Recreation Department, which offers exposure to a wide range of art, informal discussions and hands-on art activities for children 6 to 12. The program will be repeated Wednesday through Nov. 16.

The year-old series is designed to “teach kids not just to make art but to look at and talk about art,” said museum education coordinator Ellen Breitman.

In addition to the Hockney slides, children viewed and discussed pictures of Henry Moore, Constantine Brancusi, Giacometti and African sculptures. They also toured the museum’s sculpture garden and galleries for views of contemporary pieces by Charles Ray, Tom Marion, John Altoon and Bill Viola.

Heady stuff for your average grade-schooler.

“I feel that kids should see all kinds of art so they understand that it can be a lot of different things, not just a pretty picture of a red barn,” explained instructor Kathleen Pferd, who has taught art classes for children and adults across the county.

After viewing, the children discussed their impressions of the works and participated in art activities that included drawing, clay modeling, sculpting and mural painting.

It was first-hand exposure to the museum’s Selections from the Permanent Collection that gave the class some of their best ideas, Pferd said.

“I just gave them paper and let them walk around all by themselves in the gallery,” Pferd said. “I was a little nervous at first, but the kids were really excited and they came up with some terrific stuff.”

Kenny Ristau, 11, who created a highly detailed mural of a mountain highway, had already taken a number of art classes before signing up for Art After School. Nonetheless, he said he enjoyed the program because “we didn’t do the normal, regular stuff you do everyday.”

Working in a variety of media helps children develop self-image as well as their artistic ability, Pferd said.

“The kids get to see what self-expression is all about,” she explained. This gives them a risk-free place to practice their decision-making and problem-solving, dealing with the analytical part of their brain as well as their imagination,” Pferd said.

Morgan Russell, still laying on the red tempera, said: “It’s neat because you get to do a lot of stuff.

“Besides,” she added, gesturing toward the museum’s outdoor sculpture exhibit, “you get to look at the things in the back yard.”

“Art After School” meets from 3 to 5 p.m. beginning Wednesday and continuing through Nov. 16 at Newport Harbor Art Museum, 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach. Registration may be made through the Newport Beach Parks and Recreation Department, 3300 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach. Fee: $40 per session, $36 each for siblings, supplies included. For information, call (714) 644-3151.