"A Taste of Art"

I am so excited about our Mountain Empire Creative Arts Council summer program for kids! It's called "A Taste of Art," and we will run it on Tuesday afternoons in July in both our town and another town east of here. Each venue will have four different "Tastes" of art, one each week: Teri will be teaching music; Judith and I writing; Artie woodworking, and Myrna and Margo watercoloring.

Here in the backcountry, art is considered "not essential" by the school district. And being the least funded school district in the entire state of California, money DOES get tight. In our town, Myrna, myself, Pam, Sheri, and many others have volunteered in the school as Art Docents, giving the students at our elementary school six weeks of weekly art. It's not much, but it's better than nothing, and nothing is what the kids east of us get in the way of art. Nothing.

So we want to whet the kids' "appetites" with a "Taste of Art." Perhaps they'll be able to develop their talents as they grow older somehow, but we want them to sample, to try, to experiment, and to enjoy ART as an expression of the beauty of the human spirit.

It will be a very busy July, and July is the only month I'll be completely off from homeschooling. But it will be worth it -- the kids will get to experience ART as part of their summer down-time, and that's always a good thing!