Final Art Walk: Telluride Region’s Young Artists at Ah Haa

01 Apr Final Art Walk: Telluride Region’s Young Artists at Ah Haa

This spring, there is more to look forward to than late-season snowstorms, thoughts of warm beaches, and camping in the desert. There is an explosion of art exhibits comprised of the work of the Telluride region’s youth contingent. Spring Youth Art exhibits will inject art lovers with color and imagination when they open during the town-wide Youth Art Walk at a number of galleries in Telluride, this Thursday, April 3, 5-8 p.m.

Supported by a small grant from the Just for Kids Foundation, Spring Youth Art is a collaboration between the Ah Haa School, Telluride Arts, Telluride Academy, We R-1 (Telluride Education Foundation). Students from Nucla, Naturita, Paradox, Norwood, Telluride Mountain School, and home-schoolers will also participate, resulting in the largest yet region-wide collection of youth art to take place in Telluride.

Attracting young artists from as far away as Paradox and Rico, Ah Haa’s 2014 Youth Art Awards submissions will be featured at the school during the month of April. The annual Awards showcase middle and high school-aged artists from public and private schools, as well as home-schooled students from Dolores to Naturita and everywhere in between. Entrants are divided into three age groups: grades 7-8; 9-10; and 11-12. Work varies from fabric arts, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture and more. A small jury will review the submissions and select the best work based on originality and strength, awarding cash prizes to “Best in Show” as well as individual cash prizes for each age group. Awards will be announced during the April 3 Youth Art Walk opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Daniel Tucker Gallery. The exhibition will remain on display until April 24.

Telluride Arts is another enthusiastic partner in Spring Youth Art, and will display Telluride Academy work in its Stronghouse Studio Gallery during April. The Telluride Academy, Telluride’s immensely popular kids’ summer camp institution, has been using the Stronghouse each Friday for their after-school Global Citizen Project. Answering the question “What are human rights?” the young artists responded through painting and other media, creating pieces that focus on human rights awareness through the eyes of the global citizen.

As if that wasn’t already an impressive amount of youth art, Telluride Elementary School art students will also have their own exhibition at Rustico Ristorante, under the direction of Elementary School art teacher Klara Lapp and supported by We R-1.

Approximately 30 Egyptian themed art prints will be on display from Telluride’s Elementary Schools 2^nd graders and Telluride Middle School student work will be featured at Baked in Telluride. All five Spring Youth Art exhibitions are slated to open during April’s First Thursday Youth Art Walk, April 3, 5-8 p.m.

2014 Spring Youth Art will wrap up with the much-anticipated Telluride Public School’s Student Art Show, which opens Thursday, May 8 in the Palm Theatre lobby with an opening reception from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Featuring works of art produced throughout the school year by students in kindergarten through 12^th grade, the exhibit will remain on display through Thursday, May 15. Under the direction of art instructors Jennifer Morgan (grades 9-12) Abby Hamblin (grades 4-8), and Lapp (grades k-1), the Telluride R1 show each May has become a long-standing Telluride tradition.

For more information please visit: www.ahhaa.org.