Los Altos Town Crier » CSMA’s ‘Kids Art on Main Street’ features 30 artists

By Town Crier Report

$Image from article CSMA\'s \'Kids Art on Main Street\' features 30 artists$
COURTESY OF EVY SCHIFFMAN
Above, blue jay art by Anna Hubel, a fifth-grader at Springer School, will be one of the student works featured at Main Street Cafe & Books through this month. The exhibition features participants in the Community School of Music and Arts’ Arts in Action program.

The Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) has scheduled “Kids Art on Main Street” through Aug. 1 at Main Street Cafe & Books in Los Altos.

Works created by 30 children, grades 1-6, who participate in CSMA’s Arts in Action, are featured. The arts-in-the-schools program is provided at Springer School in the Los Altos School District and St. Nicholas School in Los Altos Hills.

A reception for the artists, their families and friends, including root beer floats for children 13 and younger, is scheduled 5-6 p.m. Tuesday at the cafe.

The Los Altos Cultural Association (LACA), which manages art displays throughout the year in downtown Los Altos, sponsored the third-annual showing. Best known for publishing “Paint the Town,” a hardcover book, and the “Paint the Town” calendars, LACA provides cash prizes to the first-place winners in this month’s show.

“The exhibition includes a mix of subjects and media, including collages, watercolor and tempera paintings, pen and ink drawings and more,” said Linda Covello, CSMA’s visual arts director. “Having the opportunity for the children to share their work in a public venue is a wonderful experience for them and a chance for the community to enjoy the creativity of these young artists.”

The artists created the artwork during the 2005-06 school year in weekly Arts in Action classes taught by CSMA faculty, Edie Bella at Springer and Deborah Gordon at St. Nicholas. The images displayed in the cafe - a mix of still life, animals, plants and other subjects - were previously displayed at the annual end-of-the-year shows in the elementary schools.

For 25 years, CSMA’s Arts in Action and Music in Action programs have provided weekly, sequential, skill-based classes at local public and private elementary schools.

Main Street Cafe and Books is located at 134 Main St., Los Altos. Hours are 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sundays. For more information, visit www.arts4all.org.