According to gallery manager Lars Sage, the “Mentor/Student” exhibition currently on display at the Art Center of Estes Park is less about polished professional work and more about showcasing something unusual in a gallery setting: first efforts.
“It’s been going on for quite a few years and is an incredibly important program to the Art Center,” Sage said. “It allows us to introduce ourselves to the community, allows our artists to share their talents, and provides space for new artists to show their work in a gallery setting. Plus, the kids get really excited about it.”
Running through March 16, the annual exhibition pairs work created by elementary students in the center’s mentoring program alongside pieces by adult students who have taken classes over the past year. This year, visitors to the sunroom gallery will also find a new addition: artwork created by Estes Park High School students.
“It’s one of our really successful programs that we do,” Sage said. “It’s an outreach to the public, basically, because anybody — it could be a child or an adult — can apply and we pair them up with one of our artists and let them be taught.”
Over the past three years, the program has focused more intentionally on elementary school students. This year, three art center artists, Wynne Wilbur, Steve Goddard and Sally Richmond, mentored 13 children in ceramics, basic printmaking and drawing and painting. In addition, homeschooled student Jacob Watkins worked one-on-one with fiber artist Cari Cook to create a colorful felted octopus, now displayed in the gallery.
Sage, who previously worked with another now-defunct local arts organization that dedicated gallery space exclusively to student work, the Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park, believes that providing young artists with the opportunity to exhibit in a professional setting is still central to the program’s mission.
“I always thought that was such an important opportunity to have kids show their artwork in a real gallery,” Sage said. “It wasn’t something that made us make money off of, but it was just an opportunity — both in terms of showing off their artwork and also getting some of their parents into your gallery to get familiar with where we are.”
That experience extends beyond simply making art. Students in the program are also taught how to present their work publicly, from discussing the pieces they created to understanding how artwork is displayed and promoted in a gallery setting.
“We teach them not only to do the art but also what it takes to put it into a gallery and promote yourself and things like that,” Sage said. “So if someday they want to be an artist who wants to work in a gallery, they have some ideas about what that might mean as well.”
This year also marks the first time the Art Center has partnered with Estes Park High School to display student work in its sunroom gallery. Curated by high school art teacher Angela Barberi, the exhibit features a range of mixed media from roughly 10 student artists, including scratch art, charcoal drawings, acrylic paintings, collage, ceramics and jewelry.
“They are the future,” Sage said. “And you’ve got to have an opportunity to let them explore what it means to be an artist in a gallery.”
Some of the elementary students have already had a taste of success, with family members purchasing pieces on display, which Sage believes can be motivating for young artists.
“That’s another opportunity for the kids to get a little check for the work that sold,” he said. “I think that’s a little excitement and motivation for them to say, ‘Oh yeah, maybe I could do something like this.’”
The “Mentor/Student” show is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays through Mondays at the Art Center of Estes Park, 517 Big Thompson Ave. Admission is free.
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