Chalk one up for art

With her hands covered in yellow and pink chalk, 7-year-old Cynthia

Giumelli knelt on the black top of Washington Elementary School’s

playground earnestly shading in the flower petals she’d drawn as part

of the school’s observance of California Art Day.

Students from the entire school spent their recess covering the

playground’s asphalt with chalk drawings of everything from rainbows

to rocket ships to pictures of their families.

“I get to draw pretty things,” Cynthia said. “There’s all these

different colors and we can make anything we want.”

The school’s chalk art festival was part of the California Art Day

celebration, observed by schools statewide, including those in the

Burbank Unified School District.

“It’s part of a statewide effort to demonstrate the impact arts

have on the California economy and the education and job preparation

of its children,” said Washington Elementary School Assistant

Principal Arlene Mooradian Zenian. “It encourages them to use more

arts to express themselves, and it also emphasizes the importance of

art in our curriculum and education.”

Seven-year-old Matthew York stood proudly over the drawing of a

giant smiling yellow star he had drawn with his name written in the

middle of it.

“It’s just so fun to draw,” Matthew said. “I love painting, too. I

painted a bus yesterday for my mom.”

Alex Kirwan, an animator and art director from the Nickelodeon

network, came to help out with the event.

“It’s firing up the kids’ imaginations; it helps them know that

something is possible,” said Kirwan, who spent time drawing outlines

of dinosaurs and insects that students could color in or add on to.

Kirwan, who works on the series “My Life as a Teenage Robot,” said

he was glad to participate in the event because he enjoys showing

students some of what goes into making the cartoons they enjoy.

“Kids watch cartoons and like them, and they know in the back of

their mind it’s a drawing,” said Kirwan, as he drew the outline of a

giant grasshopper. “When they see how it’s done, it’s almost magical

to them, and it dawns on them that they can do it too.”

Washington Elementary School Principal Jane Clausen said she hoped

the students’ participation in California Art Day would make them

more aware of their own artistic talents.

“Sometimes this provides an opportunity for the children to

discover interests or talents they didn’t even know they had,”

Clausen said.

Second graders Jasmine Delgado and Vanessa Osorio said they hoped

to become artists when they grow up and that the chalk festival was

helping them in their aspirations.

“It helps you learn to draw better,” said Vanessa, as she drew

yellow stars around the blue rocket ship Jasmine was shading in.

“When I want to draw a picture of something I’m reading, it’s going

to be even better.”

* SARAH HILL covers education. She may be reached at (818)

637-3205 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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