The DA Center for the Arts is committed to the Children that make up our community. Whatever their age, they are dealing with the issues that make up the very core of their lives, and the arts make us think about what things mean—childhood, race, gender, animals, even trash. The arts involve creative and critical thinking and the development of interpretive skills—not just learning by repetition. And while the arts address the meaning of ordinary things, they also teach and acceptance of differing ideas, an openness to new concepts, respect and sensitivity towards other cultures, and an interest in the world around us.

Artlink is an at-school after-school art program. Artlink provides community artists for artist -designed after-school fine arts workshops, incorporating Science, History and Math.

In early May 2005 Artlink participated in the 2nd annual Education Expo for the Ontario -Montclair School District. Thanks to Karen Neiuber for another successful event! From 9:00 am to 3:00 pm five Artlink artist/teachers worked with nearly 1,000 children on 3-minute art projects. Also on display were over 300 tiles created by students in the Artlink after-school arts program at Kingsley and Monte Vista Elementary schools in the OMSD. The project theme was "World Peace". Students were asked to draw a picture and write a sentence reflecting their thoughts on the subject. Since then all 320 tiles have been permanently installed on five 5 foot concrete benches on both campuses. Thank you to Gina Lawson-Egan and Laura Lawson for the mosaic expertise and hard work. Thanks to all the little artists for their profound and innocent views on kindness, respect and the need for world peace. Our gratitude also goes out to facilitators Vicki Ford and Wanda Narsai and Principals Mari Fedrow and Nancy Rendon from Monte Vista and Kingsley for their continued support of the arts in education. We have received tremendous positive feedback from everyone involved.

Artlink students use their imagination to create images of bugs and insects. Tiles were permanently installed around a large tree planter at Kingsley Elementary school in OMSD.

Children were asked to create a drawing and write a statement with the theme "world peace" in mind. These images were transferred to tiles by artists, glazed then fired. Once the benches were in place on campus, mosaic artists permanently installed the childrens artwork. The end result were three beautiful benches at Monte Vista Elementary and two at Kingsley Elementary, both in OMSD.

"Blending cultures" is the theme for this mural in progress. The 2' X 2' square sections will be attached to one large panel and installed at Kingsley. Further embellishment for this mural and a second mural in progress will be a frame made from many wooden tiles displaying students images reflecting "acts of kindness" and "Heroes and role models". Check back for photos of this project upon completion December '05.

A favorite teacher is memorialized.

For more information and a program cost proposal, please direct inquiries to Jeanie Scoggins at J.Scoggins@dacenter.org. Please include the name and title of a contact person along with a phone number and School name.