Local business aims to keep art in schools

As Bloomington residents gathered for the 33rd annual Arts Fair on June 22, kids gathered at one booth in particular to take part in the arts.

Set in the downtown Square, the ArtSmart Kids booth offered mini art workshops throughout the day that gave children of all ages an opportunity to express themselves through sculpting and painting.

Debra Gruell, founder and instructor for ArtSmart Kids, has been in business for just a few weeks.

“I’ve been traveling around the country for the last 13 years, trying to be involved in as many organizations as possible to keep art in schools,” Gruell said. “I just got back a few weeks ago and started this program.”

ArtSmart Kids is a fine-arts enrichment program that gives kids a chance to have fun as well as also develop serious art. Skills, technique, project visualization and completion are introduced while students are up to their elbows in hands-on lessons.

Weekly classes explore many different media, art forms and cultures.

Upcoming workshops include “Slugs, Bugs, & Beautiful Creatures”; “Wings & Things,” which explores the concept of ancient and mystical creatures in art; “Forest of Imagination”; “Flutter-Bys,” a workshop that covers any insect that flutters; and “Art on the Wild Side,” a class about threatened or endangered animals from the United States Wildlife Conservation Society.

“We are offering another class on July 20 titled ‘Pop and Picasso,’ where we will be doing paper sculpting for so many weeks and then we will go on to pallet knife painting,” Gruell said. “It’s a lot of fun and it’s affordable.”

Gruell has been teaching for nearly 18 years, and said she thought of the name “ArtSmart Kids” for the program while teaching.

“The reason for the name is I truly believe that art is smart and I’m disappointed that through the years we keep taking art education away from the kids instead of giving it to them,” Gruell said.

Gruell explained that by only charging $10 for every class and providing the supplies, she can get as many kids as possible involved.

“There are a lot of wonderful artists around Bloomington, but my focus is on the kids and arts education,” Gruell said.

ArtSmart Kids also offers adult workshops for creating and teaching art. This six-hour workshop shows adults how to set up and instruct their own fine arts program while sculpting, drawing and painting.

Gruell also offers teacher in-service workshops to better instruct teachers on how to get art involved in the classroom.

Juana Linares, who attended the Arts Fair with her three daughters, said she would
like to try the classes as well.

“This was a nice gift for my daughters because at first they did not want to do it, but once they started they were excited,” she said.

For more information please contact debartsmartkids@msn.com or visit www.makemeartsmart.com.