TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Right across from Redbud park, NOTO’s Art Center is spotlighting kids art for National Youth Art Month.
A typical partnership with young Topeka artists meant a little more this month at NOTO’s Art Center.
“We love having this show,” Art Center Administrative and Program Support Michaela Butterworth said. “On the First Friday when it first opened all the kids come with their family, they come in with grandma and grandpa, they come in with their neighbors, their friends and its just a really great vibe.”
NOTO’S Art Center is displaying pieces from Topeka high school’s advanced art classes.
“So the kids are the one that decide where the pieces are going to go,” Butterworth said. “They hang them up on on the wall or arrange their sculptures on the table. It’s really their show.”
The exhibit features photography, digital art, handmade art, and mostly clay sculptures. Butterworth says the art center helps create a space for youth to share their work.
“I think for us its really important. We are the main arts district in town, so its really good for us to play a leading edge or an important part in giving youth the opportunity to have their art shown in a gallery setting because not a lot of places do that for youth,” Butterworth said.
Her favorite part is seeing parents’ reaction to their kids art.
“I know for the mom and dad that came in last weekend,” Butterworth said. “This was the first time they had seen that piece of art. Their daughter had kind of hidden it from them and hadn’t shown them, so I think that element of surprise that the kids are really proud and wanna share it with their parents but not until its up on the wall.”
The arts center helps give youth an outlet for creativity.
“I am a huge supporter of supporting youth in art, so any opportunity that we can get to help and promote youth art in our community is something that we strive for,” Butterworth said.
The students art comes down tomorrow, but it will hang in a Matryoshka Tattoo parlor.
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