Young artists’ works put on display

CROWLEY – A summer of children and art came to an end Saturday as the Crowley Art Association honored the works of the 2012 Children’s Summer Workshops with a cookie and punch gala.

The Gallery opened its doors at 2 p.m. Saturday for parents, children and other family members to see what a week of classes helped the students create.

The drawings, paintings, sculptures and photographs that were created by the numerous participants in the various workshops.

Instructors Patty Ronkartz, Robert Baxter, Machelle Booty, Christa Sammartino and Susan Brammer-Istre spent a busy eight weeks helping children of various ages create different artworks each day.

The summer workshops began Monday, June 4; first in the morning with the week-long “Arts and Crafts” class for younger children; then again in the afternoon for the week-long “Sculptors” workshop taught by Ronkartz to children ages nine and up.

In the second week, Robert Baxter hosted his first of two “Adventures in Art” classes over the summer. Each afternoon during the week of June 11-15. The class featured a different project each day and saw the creation of many detailed artworks.

The following week, the younger children in the area once again had an opportunity to work on their own art with another “Arts and Crafts” workshop. Held in the morning, the children learned the basics of art and created simple crafts.

Another busy week closed at June with morning “Acting Classes” taught by co-instructors Machelle Booty and Robert Baxter in the morning and “Drawing and Painting” taught by Robert Baxter in the afternoon.

The acting classes allowed children to learn about stage presence and even stage makeup and the drawing and painting class gave children the opportunity to learn and explore the worlds of drawing and painting.

July’s first classes, held the afternoons of July 2-6 (excluding the Fourth of July), saw instructor Christa Sammartino helping children create “Art with Gourds” which created some of the more unique artworks including gourd ornaments that hung in the front of The Gallery Saturday.

Two more “Arts and Crafts” classes were held in July during the weeks of July 9-13 and July 23-27.

July also saw the remaining two “Acting Classes” and “Adventures in Art” classes held, both held during the week of July 16-20.

Combined, the workshops created many walls and counters worth of artwork by numerous children, which meant plenty of proud family members and children walking through The Gallery’s doors Saturday.

For their participation, each child also received a participation certificate.

All the classes, on average, each day featured a new activity and thus a new work of art. This meant that The Gallery was filled to brim with artworks from all spectrums and the workshop students had plenty of art to bring home.

With the children taking their work home, the remainder of August has been set aside to display all of its members works.