February 1, 2005

Getting involved

Willow GlenElementary’s art docent program stimulates creativity

By Marylea Adams
Special to the Times

In 1997 it was time for me to look for an elementary school for my then 5-year-old daughter. I toured both public and private schools and after much thought settled on my neighborhood school, Willow Glen Elementary.

Parents and students work together on different projects during the Willow Glen Elementary’s PTA-sponsored Art Night, held Jan. 25 at the school.

I wanted my daughter to walk to school, live close to the kids she played with, but most of all to support the movement of going back to neighborhood schools. I loved the school, its teachers, its diverse population and the many families, who felt the way I felt and have become close friends.

As a parent coming into the school I knew I wanted to really get involved, so I immediately joined the PTA and offered to start an art program. Before I had children, I worked as a gallery director and curator. Since my marriage, I had started teaching art classes part time and especially loved working with children.

I knew I could combine my knowledge of art history and my skills as an artist to come up with something that would really teach kids techniques and the history of art, as well as encourage their natural creativity and curiosity. I also wanted the lessons to allow kids the freedom to express themselves.

The members of PTA and the teachers were extremely supportive to my ideas. The following year we started the Willow Glen Art Docent Program. Parents act as volunteer docents. They present an art history lesson combined with a hands-on art project in every classroom at least twice a month. The program focuses on not only the European artists that are so important to art history, but artists from all parts of the world who celebrate the diversity that is part of our own culture here in San Jose.

We work in a variety of mediums, including pastel, acrylics, watercolor, collage, clay and more. The PTA even purchased a brand new kiln so that we could do more clay projects, which the kids really enjoy.

Each year our docents also present an art night where kids can come and create many different art projects. The children use a portfolio to keep all their art, and at the end of the school year we hang a schoolwide art show, in which each child chooses their favorite piece of art.

Using a gallery-like atmosphere, the art show is a special evening for students and docents. It’s a wonderful feeling to see all of the amazing work these children have created and how proud they are to have it shown.

In the seven years since the docent program’s inception, it has grown and improved. Today, there are more than 35 docents working in Willow Glen Elementary’s classrooms. The students at Willow Glen are always excited for art day when their docent rolls in with the slide projector and the art cart filled with materials for the lesson of the day.

They can identify the work of Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns or Frieda Kahlo, and have painted, sculpted, made collages and sketched. They know the difference between impressionism and expressionism, but most of all, these students have been given the chance to create. It’s fulfilling to know that all kids at Willow Glen get this experience and this exposure to the visual arts.

As for me, my daughter has moved on to middle school, and I’m now a docent for my son’s third grade classroom, as well as continuing to run the art program at the school.

Marylea Adams and Julie Stover opened Art House Kids about five years ago. The two started their business in a home in Palm Haven, but moved to their 1043 Lincoln Ave. address in 2004. Both women have been instrumental in starting art programs at their children’s elementary schools—Stover at Hacienda and Adams at Willow Glen. Art House Kids offers fine arts classes to kids of all ages, including classes incorporating art history into the lessons, drawing and painting skills as well as many others. The move to Lincoln Avenue allowed the art teachers to expand classes. They now offer school programs and are currently working with many community schools. For more information about ArtHouse Kids, visit the Web site at www.arthousekids.com or call (408) 975-9987.