TUSTIN : Art for Art’s Sake and for the Children’s Too

A meaningful school art program is still possible in this era of budget cuts, a Tustin elementary school has shown.

Students from kindergarten through fifth grade at Marjorie Veeh Elementary School are learning to paint and draw under the direction of a professional artist, thanks to the efforts of the school’s PTA.

“It’s a mistake to reduce children’s art exposure to crayons,” said Jennifer Matthews, the PTA vice president who helped raise $6,000 to finance the art program involving all of the school’s more than 500 students.

“In an age when students are learning computers,” Matthews said, “they also must be taught to appreciate art. It makes their education more rounded.”

Music and arts programs are often the first to go whenever school programs have to be cut, Principal Margaret Sepulveda said. Although basic art and music still are taught in the classrooms, so-called enrichment programs are not possible without help from the parents.

“Our parents have always come through,” Sepulveda said. “We rely on them for programs of this magnitude.”

On a recent morning, about 90 students from three fifth-grade classes gathered in the school’s multipurpose room to study acrylic painting with Ashley Brooks, an artist from Capistrano Beach.

The students painted tulips, lilies, roses and other flowers. In previous sessions, they learned to sketch with pen or pencil and to mix paint.

Brooks, who heads the Fine Arts Educational Program, a nonprofit group, has developed Art Enrichment for Kids, a four-week program that teaches elementary school students basic painting techniques and art appreciation.

“Art promotes self-esteem, provides an outlet for creative expression and builds confidence,” Brooks said. “When children create something, they’re happy.”