The National Gallery of Jamaica presents the second edition of Art’ iT – a selection of artworks produced by a number of children who are participants in the Saturday Art Time Programme. The exhibition is free to the public and will open on Saturday, June 22 at 11 a.m. in the Information Centre at the Urban Development Corporation, (Office Centre Building – 12 Ocean Boulevard).
Art’ iT is an expression which beckons the creative impulse to come forth and be reckoned with. As such, the artworks selected do not only reflect the children’s basic response to an assignment. They highlight, instead, the children’s unique responses to questions about their curiosities and the diverse urges of their developing imaginations.
Saturday Art Time started in 2009 and seeks to provide children with a set of organized activities, which encourages them to think critically and speak sensibly about works of art, particularly, works of art which form part of NGJ’s Collection. Since its inception, the works have been archived and in 2011 Art’ iT was launched as the first exhibition solely of children’s visual art works mounted by the National Gallery.
The Saturday Art Time programme seeks to develop the visual communication and art production skills of children, while providing them with opportunities to interact with peers of similar interest, who may be from different backgrounds.
“Within our workshops, children are provided with all the materials needed to produce both two-dimensional and three-dimensional art objects which may include drawings, paintings and a variety of sculptural forms,” stated Monique Barnett – Davidson, programme coordinator and curatorial assistant at NGJ. She also noted that during most of the workshops, the children practice at least one visual arts technique and/or produce a visual composition which represents an object, idea or theme. Once the works are completed, the children add them to their portfolios and these are later assessed by the coordinators of the programme. With this assessment, selections can be made from the works for possible archiving and mounting in exhibitions.
Presently, the Saturday Art Time programme accommodates a total of thirty children and the participants are organized into two age groups: one group for participants 8 – 11 years old and another group for participants 12 – 15 years.
Saturday Art Time is a series of art workshops conducted each Saturday at the National Gallery of Jamaica from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The exhibition will run until July 12th and available for viewing Mondays to Fridays 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
