GILROY—For the 26th consecutive year, Gilroy’s elementary school-aged children can take a break from the summer heat and hone their art skills at free workshops Saturday. Kids Discover Art, which includes 15 workshops ranging from Japanese origami to caricature drawing and pastel painting, takes place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the grassy area just south of the Gilroy Library and north of Gilroy City Hall. Children ages 5 through 11 are invited to participate.
“Our goal is to expose more children to the fine arts,” said City Recreation Supervisor Cathy Mirelez, who supervises the city’s cultural arts programming. “We try to cover all aspects of the visual arts but we’re going to have a few workshops more crafty in nature, too.”
Fifteen local artists will be on hand Saturday to lead workshops in a variety of techniques and media, including printmaking, Chinese calligraphy, colored pencil and charcoal drawing, watercolor and mask making.
The workshops began in 1989, when art instruction in public school classrooms was eliminated from the curriculum, Mirelez said. Gilroy-based artists, city staff and educators brainstormed to come up with a way to bring arts instruction to children and have a broad, community-wide impact.
Kids Discover Art, modeled after a similar, successful event in the city of Sunnyvale, has been a hit ever since, Mirelez said.
“We have consistently had a crowd of 350 people—and it was that large of a crowd the first year. The community has really embraced the event,” she added.
Strollers are discouraged at the outdoor event. Shade canopies will be on hand to give families a break from the summer heat.
All workshops are led by volunteers, Mirelez said.
“We’re so thankful they agree to give up a day to come support the event and give their time and talents to kids in the community.”
