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| Children Drawn to Educational Fun at Kids Art Zone By Ofelia Saenz, Signal Tribune staff writer
Although Allred began teaching children's art classes a few years ago, she recently opened her own teaching space: Kids Art Zone (KAZ). Located in the Banana Berry Marketplace, KAZ is a children's art studio that caters to kids ages 4 to twelve. Their aim is to provide a space for youngsters to use hands-on, tactile materials to self-express and create, learn and have fun. "Our children need all the resources they can get to use their creativeness through art," says Allred. "Once they're exposed to art they look at the world differently." On a recent Friday morning, Allred directs two students, Emily Hever 6, and Cole Stillwagon 5, through a series of exercises designed to teach them the five basic elements of shape. By the end of the class, Hever and Stillwagon are working confidently on their own abstracts. "I think it's just another learning tool for [children] to build on," says Allred. Her students sit working busily at a table filled with a rainbow of art supplies laid out around them. "There's so much TV, so many electronics, the computer, the game-boys, all this stuff-they're not using they're creative energies. What we're doing is getting down to basics, getting that paint out, getting that pencil out, and just drawing and using our imagination." Kids Art Zone is located in the Banana Berry Marketplace at 1090 East Wardlow Road in California Heights. For more information call (562) 537-3145. |
As an artist and a mother, Pamela Allred appreciates the advantages of a creative environment in which children can learn the basics of art as well as have fun. After receiving a degree in fine arts in 1981 from the University of Colorado, Allred devoted herself to raising her kids in an art-friendly environment.