Age is a natural gap, but not when it comes to art.
Next month, before Halloween season really kicks in, more than
100 artists as young as 5 will present their work at the
third-annual Gilroy Arts and Wine Festival downtown, where there’ll
also be wineries, vendors, crafters, food booths and a convenient
kids corner.
Gilroy – Age is a natural gap, but not when it comes to art.
Next month, before Halloween season really kicks in, more than 100 artists as young as 5 will present their work at the third-annual Gilroy Arts and Wine Festival downtown, where there’ll also be wineries, vendors, crafters, food booths and a convenient kids corner.
For the past 25 years, the Young Artists Show, with its hundreds of water colors and drawings, has typically occurred at the Willey Cultural Center in the Spring.
But this year the event joins the 30-year-old Adult Art and Culture Exhibit, which has spent the last three years at Christmas Hill Park, where the festival used to take place.
“We are venturing down the path of incorporating both shows,” said Cathy Mirelez, the city’s recreations supervisor in charge of cultural arts and the museum.
“It’s wonderful to be able to view all the talent in our community and be surrounded by art, and it’s incredible to see the talent we have at such a young age.”
Artists older than 18 can enter the adult show, while those between 5 and 18 must enter the youth show.
Younger contestants must live or learn within the Gilroy Unified School District, but adult contestants can live in the greater GIlroy area.
Entrance fees will subsidize eight $75 first-place prizes for the adults, whose work will also undergo evaluation by Mayor Al Pinheiro when he chooses the “Mayor’s Pick,” one of four special awards that four adult artists could receive.
The Gilroy Public Art Committee will award the “Purchase Award” to a piece that costs less than $500 that also represents Gilroy.
Two others awards offer $350 and $200. The eight adult categories are painting, 3-dimensional, printmaking, watercolor, drawing, mixed media, photography and digital art.
The young artists won’t be judged professionally like the adults. Event-goers will vote informally for the different age groups that depend on artist turn-out.
While the top five in each group will probably see their works displayed in city hall, retired college art teacher Diane Wallace said it’s important that the minors look at art as more than a competition.
Wallace, who teaches about 60 students ranging from 5- to 18-years-old, will help set up the festival by hanging the works, and she said some of her private students will enter their work.
“I want the kids to do the art work for its own intrinsic value,” Wallace said. “Every person who comes out of the young artist gallery is smiling.
“Children’s art makes people feel good. It’s whimsical and humorous. It helps us remember some of the ways we used to think as a child.”
Mirelez said she expects 100 to 125 young artists and about 65 adult artists.
