StART It Up!

Student art work from grades 4, 5 and 6 at Mountain View, Oakmont, Sumner, Sycamore and Vista del Valle elementary schools will be on display at the Claremont Museum of Art May 3 through May 5. StART It Up!, an overview exhibition planned, curated and installed by Project ARTstART high school students, will include works on paper, collage, sculptures, and paintings. This is the culmination of the Claremont Museum of Art’s signature art education program celebrating its eighth year.

The museum will be open noon to 4:00 p.m. with free admission for this special weekend. On Saturday, May 4 at 5:00 p.m. an open house will celebrate these young artists and their families. Art Walk will follow from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. with refreshments and music. Bring the whole family on Sunday, May 5 for ARTStation with fun art activities led by talented high school ARTstARTers.

Project ARTstART, a Claremont Museum of Art education program under the direction of Rich Deely, trains high school students, working with college mentors, to provide exhibit-based art lessons for elementary school students. The program brings high-quality, art appreciation classes and art marking activities to the Claremont school system to inspire, promote understanding of art and highlight Claremont’s rich artistic history.

During this academic year, six students from The Claremont Colleges and one Citrus Community College student mentored 55 high school ARTstARTers as they planned and presented exhibit-based art lessons to 4th – 6th grade students at all five Title 1 elementary schools. Field trips to the local museums were enhanced by multiple classroom art-making lessons.

In addition, ARTstARTers served BLAST, ACES, and AVID aftercare students at all seven CUSD main elementary campuses each month with art-making workshops. Hundreds more children participated in art activities at community festivals and ARTStation, drop-in workshops on Free Family Day at CMA on the first Sunday of every month, generously sponsored by Wheeler Steffen Sotheby’s International Realty and Broadview Mortgage.

Project ARTstART is produced solely by the Claremont Museum of Art in partnership with the Claremont Unified School District (CUSD) and provides programming for students from eight participating schools: Chaparral, Condit, Mountain View, Oakmont, Sumner, Sycamore, and Vista del Valle elementary schools, along with Claremont High School.

The program is funded by generous donations and by gifts-in-kind from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; Claremont Lincoln University; the City of Claremont Community-Based Organization grant (CBO); the Spearman Charitable Foundation; the Claremont Community Foundation; the Claremont Education Foundation Community Partnership Grants (CEF); Kiwanis Club of Claremont Foundation; Scripps College Fine Arts Foundation; the Rotary Club of Claremont; American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA); Pomona College Museum of Art, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College; The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts, as well as CMA Board members and many dedicated community donors.

More information on Project ARTstART