Art isn't just for grown-ups. Walk into the Gough Gallery, and you'll see a room filled with imagination. How about a banana split sculpted from brightly painted paper towels? Or peer through a window to a silhouette scene inspired by poetry written by a child? Perhaps you'd like to take a paper guitar off the wall a play a little rock 'n' roll or peel that two-dimensional piece of pizza off the wall and take a bite?
A number of elementary school children from the Denton school district and students from an Argyle elementary school and Lake Dallas High School have their hand in "Art Shapes the World," an art show in celebration of Youth Art Month. The exhibition, sponsored by the Denton County Art Education Association and the Greater Denton Arts Council, will be on display at the Center for the Visual Arts' Gough Gallery through March 27.
"Each [school] has an art specialist. These are people who have been trained to teach art," said Denise Clyne Ruch, a teacher at L.A. Nelson Elementary School and president of Denton County Art Education Association.
She said the Denton school district has "a very strong art program." Each teacher covers the principles and elements of art, stressing process as well as product and discipline through art projects that sometimes relate to academic subjects and are completed over several class periods.
"There's a time commitment that goes into this," Clyne Ruch said. "The kids really focus for an extended period."
Those students whose teachers are members of Denton County Art Education Association were allowed to exhibit their work, and four to eight students per school were selected to participate.
Teachers who are members of the organization can attend workshops led by other artists. "We are reinvesting in ourselves as artists," Clyne Ruch said.
Being a member "creates a very strong community of art teachers," she said. "It bonds us pretty tightly together."
These teachers work with the same students from kindergarten through fifth grade.
"We see the growth over many years," she said. "You can build on [the students' skills]. That can happen when you have a continuous art program."
Clyne-Ruch believes that art helps teach important problem-solving skills through creativity, which can't be judged by filling in the correct bubbles on an exam.
"It's impossible to test creativity," she said. "It's not quantitative, it's qualitative. … Not everything can be tested. Testing doesn't actually determine the value of something. I'm hoping that shows like this would demonstrate that."
