April’s Art Student of the Month is Miller Valley kindergartner, Kristina Cottam!
Brown Bear Brown Bear by Miller Valley Art Student of the Month kindergartner Kristina Cottam, art teacher Christine Dean
This artwork Kristina made is extra special. She made it using colorful feathers, sand, collaged paper, and buttons. Russell thought it would be perfect to add some matching green colored fasteners to the frame; they really “button it up” 😉 The cut out artwork is floated in the frame by raising it up 1/4″, and then the mats are made with rounded corners to reflect the shapes of the cutout. Christine Dean, Kristina’s art teacher, thought this artwork was better than all the rest for April – and we have to agree!
Detail of the frame showing the mat and buttons added to the corners. Nice choice for the frame, Russell!
Every month of the school year we are lucky enough to get to frame an exceptional art student’s artwork. The art is hand selected by the elementary school art teachers, and then each teacher takes a turn bringing the art to us for over-the-top custom frames. Once the kid’s art is framed, we put it in our gallery window to show it off to the world. This is all done at no charge to the school or the student; it’s just our joy to be able to encourage young artists and give their parents a really specially framed piece by their budding artist. It’s so much fun to see the kids’ and parents’ faces light up when they see the work in the front window of our gallery on Gurley St., which is Prescott, AZ.’s main street. By encouraging youth artists to keep up the good work, and letting them know that making art can be rewarding, we are trying in our own way to keep the spirit of fine art alive and well. Stay tuned for next month’s art student of the month, coming in May!