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Community Corner

Family Roundup: Being Art Smart in Bellevue

Studying art can benefit your child. Bellevue has resources to connect your child to art including classes and art supplies.

BELLEVUE -- Art means more than a collection of pretty pictures on your refrigerator. Bellevue has a vibrant arts community and a number of resources for families who want to enrich a child’s life with art.

Studying the visual arts benefits a child in many ways, including enhanced self esteem and better academic performance, researchers say. In 1997 Dr. James Catterall, a researcher at Uniersity of California, Los Angeles, published the results of a study where he analyzed the school records of 25,000 students as they moved from grade 8 to grade 10.

Catterall found that students who studied music and the arts had higher grades and scored better on standardized tests. More importantly the study found that the results were even more pronounced in students who came from financially challenged backgrounds.

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Here are some resources in Bellevue and nearby where you can connect your child to all the benefits studying the visual arts has to offer.

The museum offers many opportunities for children and teens to connect with art,  including its popular and the monthly . Student Wednesdays are the second Wednesday of every month, when students can enter for free. You can even celebrate your child’s birthday at the museum, which offers parties for up to 12 children in partnership with Smart with Art.  And check out the the kidsfair while you visit the Bellevue Arts Museum or a number of free and fun art activities inside the museum especially for kids. The artsfair this year is June 29, 30 and 31.

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Art Instruction for Kids

The Parks and Recreation department offers a number of art classes for toddlers to teens. Registration and the class schedule is available online at the Bellevue Parks website.

Pottery classes offered for kids are listed at the site at http://www.​ci.​ bellevue.​wa.​us/​northwest_arts.​htm. Also offered at the center is an after school arts program and the mini masters class for 2- to 5-year-olds accompanied by a parent. There is also a pre-school art class offered at the .

Other resources for art instruction in Bellevue include in Belgate Plaza, 1075 Bellevue Way NE, which offers an upcoming mid-winter art camp, art birthday parties and classes for preschoolers to adults.

offers free craft classes for kids every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. And at Crossroads also offers free craft time including an upcoming make a Valentine’s Day Card on February 13 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m..

offers many classes for kids and adults including a morning preschool art class, afternoon collage class and a basic drawing and arts fundamentals class for elementary age kids.

The is also a great resource for many classes in variety of media and for ages ranging from toddlers to teens.  The Clay, Paint, Paper series for 6- to 8-year olds is a popular Wednesday afternoon class that introduces students to a variety of media and techniques. Other classes for elementary-age students include drawing, clay and making bookmarks. Teens can advance into portrait drawing and print making.  The center offers extremely popular summer camps, which usually fill up fast.  Members get to register early and receive a discount on classes so consider joining and also you’ll get to take advantage of discounts to art supply stores including and Daniel Smith, 15112 N.E. 24th St. Bellevue.

Art Supplies and Books

A shoebox with some crayons, color pencils, scissors, glue stick, a set of student pastels, pencil and eraser along with some blank paper is something to have on hand at home for your budding artist. You can get art supplies in Bellevue at and , both at , and even at . For some great books and a bigger range of supplies, head to Daniel Smith in Bellevue or .  Both stores have employees who are also artists and are happy to point you to the best art materials for both your budget and your child’s interests. 

Some great books to inspire your child’s interest in art include Seattle artist’s Carla Sonheim’s "Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun," the "Doodles, Scribbles and Squiggles" series by Taro Gomi and "Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Style of the Great Masters" by MaryAnn Kohl and Kim Solga. 

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