Camarillo school partners with studio to give students a taste of the arts Accelerated Learning Resources

Camarillo school partners with studio to give students a taste of the arts

Photo by Juan Carlo // Buy this photo

Sculptor Maggie Kildee, president of the Studio Channel Islands Art Center, talks about clay with second-graders from Los Primeros School of Sciences & Arts on Monday in Camarillo.

Walt De La Torre stood smiling at his second-grade students Monday and soaked in a sort of homecoming that brought the teacher to his old stomping grounds, the former Los Primeros Structured School site on Ventura Boulevard in Camarillo.

The building is now home to Studio Channel Islands Art Center, or SCIART. Los Primeros, now called Los Primeros School of Sciences & Arts, occupied the Ventura Boulevard site for many years before moving to Kendall Avenue in 2006.

De La Torre and his Los Primeros students were at SCIART for art lessons from working artists and to make art of their own.

“The best part of this is that it gives the kids something we can’t provide at school,” De La Torre said. “They get to see art in progress made by real artists using the tools and materials artists use. That fulfills part of the second-grade state standards of seeing professionals in real-world environments.”

The day’s activities were part of a larger alliance brought about by De La Torre’s wife, Lauren, a former teacher and now an occasional substitute and parent volunteer.

“We started this really in 2008,” Lauren De La Torre said. “I realized after we left this school site that SCIART was going to be leasing the spot, and so I made some phone calls to talk to the art studio folks and get them interested in partnering with the school.”

Walt De La Torre’s class was the first to visit SCIART, but several other Los Primeros teachers will be participating before the school year ends. Next year, he hopes to make the visits monthly.

“The kids love coming here, and they really get a hands-on experience,” said Karen Geiger, executive director of SCIART. “We offer this for free to the school in this partnership, and now we can actually get them in and work with them. It’s a great thing.”

De La Torre’s class learned about cave paintings, some of the earliest art found throughout the world. Geiger told the students about how art was created even in the days before pen and ink. Then each child had a chance to use different techniques and tools, including watercolor paints and wood ash for drawing.

“I like painting a lot,” said Brad Imrie, 8. “I like drawing and creating things. It’s a lot of fun.”

Cheryl Imrie, Brad’s mother, was happy for the chance to bring her son to the gallery and studio.

“It’s really very good for the kids to get out and learn things like this,” she said. “It’s also fun for them and it’s a creative outlet.”

Erin Mock, 8, and Ezette Ortega, 8, were creating wood ash drawings on top of their watercolor paints.

“It’s fun to paint,” Ezette said. “I learned what you can do at home to be creative.”

Erin said: “I actually got to make a cave painting. And I learned to paint with wood ash. It’s really cool.”

Geiger said SCIART and the resident artists are working to engage schools and families in the area.

“I teach a class of 5- to 9-year-olds now, and we’ll run an art camp this summer that gives kids a chance to explore a lot of different media in art, so we’re doing a lot to reach out to the community,” Geiger said.

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