New Interactive Art Area for Children
This year, aspiring artists ages 6-12 will have a chance to roll up their sleeves and participate in hands-on art activities, a new feature at Connoisseur’s Marketplace, Menlo Park‘s annual festival of the arts, July 17-18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Santa Cruz Avenue. Activities will include paper making, paper weaving and paper mosaic art projects.
 Activities will be led by Artist Pamela Ritchey, who teaches art at The Phillips Brooks School in Menlo Park. She was the creator of a similar interactive art experience for children in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Ritchey will be assisted by Phillips Brooks Girl Scouts.
“I believe that art should be accessible to all children,” Ritchey said. “The children will be making art pieces they can take home with them.”
In addition to the exciting art projects, there will be an art scavenger hunt, where children and their parents will search for interesting art items in the arts and crafts booths. Participants will enter a drawing for gift certificates to local shops.
“This will encourage families to walk around and talk to the artists,” Ritchey noted. “Hopefully, it will encourage a different clientele this year — more families, rather than couples who leave their children at home.”
Ritchey, a resident of Menlo Park, graduated from Stanford University with a degree in fine art. She loves her job as an art teacher at The Phillips Brooks School.
“I love bringing an opportunity to children to express themselves creatively,” she said. “It’s exciting for me to see them find a way to pull out what’s inside them in a healthy, appropriate way. Teaching art is very positive. What could be more fun?”
During the summer, Ritchey spends time in Hawaii reconnecting with her art of watercolor painting.
“Creating art brings us closer to our true selves,” she noted. “That’s where self esteem comes from. When you make something — whether it’s writing a poem or painting a picture — you take pride in it. As human beings, we have a drive to be creative.” |
