ARTstART: StART It Up! Student Art Exhibition

Posted on

For Immediate Release
April 23, 2026

Press Contact: Catherine McIntosh
909 626-1386, cell 713 829-9338
cmcintosh1011@gmail.com

For the 15th consecutive year, the high school students of Project ARTstART will curate ARTstART: StART It Up!, an overview exhibition presented by the Claremont Lewis Museum of Art in the Ginger Elliott Exhibition Center in Memorial Park at 840 N. Indian Hill Blvd., Claremont. The exhibition includes works on paper, collage, sculptures, and paintings from each of the art units presented to 4-6th grade classes at all seven Claremont elementary schools – now including student work from Chaparral and Condit. ARTstARTers will host art-making activities for visitors of all ages on Friday afternoon May 8, 4-6 p.m. The exhibition will also be open on Saturday, May 9, 12-4 p.m. and Sunday, May 10, 12-4 p.m. Event Website: https://clmoa.org/exhibit/start-it-up-3

Project ARTstART, the Claremont Lewis Museum of Art’s signature arts education program, directed by Rich Deely, trains high school students, working with college mentors, to provide exhibit-based art lessons for elementary school students. By bringing high-quality, art appreciation classes and activities to the Claremont schools, we hope to inspire students, promote understanding of the arts, and highlight Claremont’s rich artistic legacy.

More About Project ARTstART

Launched in the fall of 2011, Project ARTstART recruits high school and college students as teachers and mentors. These “ARTstARTers” are trained as docents by college mentors to offer multi-visit arts appreciation lessons to elementary students in their classrooms and in local museum settings. ARTstARTers learn how to plan presentations that employ Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) and interact with art educators, artists, curators, and students from The Claremont Colleges.

ARTstART’s roster now totals over 100 Claremont High School students and eight Project Assistant interns who enable ARTstART to serve all 4-6 th grade classes at Chaparral, Condit, Mountain View, Oakmont, Sumner/Danbury, Sycamore and Vista del Valle elementary schools with student-planned and presented arts appreciation activities and field trips. In addition, ARTstARTers serve 90-125 students each month with our AfterARTs series of art-making workshops for students enrolled in CUSD BLAST or ASES after-care.

Project ARTstART is produced solely by the Claremont Lewis 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/Danbury, Sycamore, and Vista del Valle elementary schools, along with Claremont High School.

The program is funded by generous donations from the Ruth & Joseph C. Reed Foundation for the Arts; City of Claremont, Community Based Organizational Grant; Claremont Sunrise Rotary; Claremont Kiwanis Foundation; Scripps Fine Arts Foundation; as well as CLMA Board members and many dedicated community donors.

Partner programming for this year was provided by American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA); Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College; California Botanic Garden; Claremont Heritage; dA Center for the Arts, Pomona; Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College; and The Susan Sontag Center for Creative Collaboration ‘The HIVE’ at Pomona College.

For more information on Project ARTstART, go to https://clmoa.org/education-programs/artstart

To see photos of ARTstART in action throughout the year, go to https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCKPsB

Photo Opportunity:

ARTstARTers will be installing the 2026 StART It Up! exhibition on May 1-7. Please contact Rich Deely, 914 330-1740, for times and further details.