The Center for the Study of Childhood Art is preparing to offer programs to the public in the spring in efforts to bring awareness to art education.
“The School of Art received a generous gift from the Walton Family Foundation to grow graduate programs in Art Education,” said Dr. Christopher Schulte, director of the center for the study of Childhood Art.
This grant allows the center to offer internship opportunities, hands on art courses, and public lectures to both students and the general public.
In the spring, the center will introduce a collection of lectures titled “Childhood Art Speaker Series.” The series is free to the public and is taking place over Zoom due to the current pandemic, Schulte said. Schulte said that COVID has allowed the center to slow down and think of ways to become more intentional.
From this newfound need, derived the Sketch Pad program.
“The Sketch Pad program is a partnership with The Station located in Springdale, Arkansas,” Schulte said. The partnership will provide free art classes to young artist in the area beginning in the spring.
Schulte said he has three main goals for the center. Schulte’s first goal is to encourage “critical high-impact research.” The second goal is to provide opportunities related to teaching, such as internships and partnerships. The endowment also helps by providing students with paid internships under the centers care.
“Visual arts are important, especially in schools,” Schulte said. The programs, that Schulte and his team provides, are an available resource to art educators is the field.
Audrea Danenhauer, an art instructor at Farmington High School, said she has heard of the center and is interested in their future programs.
Danenhaur has been impacted by the current pandemic and is currently focusing on a few specific things in the classroom. she is providing a “safe environment.” She is paying attention to the student’s mental health. Danenhaur says despite the COVID-19 art has not suffered as much in regard to creation.
“I have had students approach me and tell me ‘you do not know how much I needed this.’” Schulte reinforces Danenhaur’s comment by expressing that visual arts are one of the greatest ways to express thinking and interest.
“Students have the need to create,” Danenhaur said.
The Center for the Study of Childhood Art’s public programs are one of the many ways the center is encouraging the Fayetteville community to create.
