Artwork created by children at the local KidCreate Studio is on display in the Dana Point Community Center and Council Chambers foyer until the Festival of Whales this March.
The city’s Arts and Culture Commission worked with KidCreate art studio to display children’s artwork for the month of January and February to highlight young artists in the community.
“The Arts and Culture Commission wanted to expand the rotating art displays at the Community Center to include more young artists in our community,” Arts and Culture Commissioner Laura Smith Hatch said. “We’re excited to work with Kristen Olosky at KidCreate Studio to feature the creative and original art of local children.”
Kids from 18 months to 12 years old can participate in art classes, camps and birthday parties hosted at the art studio on Pacific Coast Highway.
The studio opened in March 2020, but has steadily grown over the last three years, studio owner Kristen Olosky said.
“We do drawing, painting, clay and collage,” Olosky said. “What makes us special, a little bit different than most kids art studio, is that we have a really strong emphasis on process art and as we say, making a mess.”
Kids get to work with lots of different materials during KidCreate classes in an environment that encourages creativity.
“We really try to keep it very fast moving and engaging and process oriented so that they’re developing a love for art while they’re learning some important skills,” Olosky said.
What Olosky hopes kids take away from their experience at the art studio is that they develop a love of being creative.
“If they happen to also find something that they’re good at or something that they are really proud of, we love that too,” Olosky said. “But I think the most important thing for them to take away is ‘wow, this is a really valuable part of my life and I love doing this.’”
With the KidCreate art display around town, Olosky asked participants to show her what they’re proud of and something they loved making.
“What really struck us was this idea of what had they been inspired by when they were doing it,” Olosky said.
Many of the kids’ art were inspired by artists who they were talking about like Wassily Kandinsky or Pablo Picasso. Some were inspired by their favorite movies, like Encanto.
“It didn’t need to be particularly highly artistic, notable artists that they were inspired by, but what really made them inspired when they were creating it and then just proud of what they came up with, so that’s how we curated it,” Olosky said.
Olosky said she loves the city’s emphasis on art in public spaces.
“I think the absolute key of kids engaging in art is that it’s about the process and the fact that they love doing it versus something that has been evaluated for its artistic quality,” Olosky said.
“So, I love the fact that they include kids because it’s a key part of art,” Olosky continued. “I think it would be a lot of fun if they also had art by seniors that was displayed, art by hobbyists that was displayed too because I think it’s really nice to show that art can be a beautiful part of people’s lives even if you’re a learner.”
Through March and April, whale-based artwork submitted for the city’s Whale of a Kid’s Art & Literature Contest will be displayed in the Community Center and Council Chambers.
Discussion about this post