Look inside our YIA Gallery windows and enjoy a world of color: the wonderful artwork from our Arts Unite Us program!
Outside the Lines: Collaborative Art from Special Day Classrooms will fill the front windows of the YIA Gallery so viewers can enjoy the show from the sidewalk. Additionally, artwork will be viewable digitally on our social media platforms. The artwork was created this spring by K to 12 students experiencing disabilities.
The exhibition opens Friday, Aug. 14, to coincide with the 2nd Friday Artwalk in downtown San Rafael. It includes self portraits, collages and collaborative work as well as a digital screening of paintings and sculpture from classrooms across Marin County that are not included in the window display.
“Despite school closures in early March, Youth in Arts was able to work with students through our Arts Unite Us residency program serving Special Day Classrooms thanks to the coordination and support of teachers, paraeducators, the Marin County Office of Education, the VSA Kennedy Center, students, and all of our students’ families,” said Youth in Arts Program Director Kelsey Rieger.
“This year, the Outside the Lines exhibition has extra special meaning because it gives us the chance to celebrate what that coming together over the last few months has looked like,” she said. “We can’t wait to share it with the community.”
The gallery at 917 C St. is one of the few venues in the nation devoted to showing children’s art. The inside of the gallery is temporarily closed to the public due to coronavirus restrictions. Mentor artists who taught in the Arts Unite Us program include: Cathy Bowman, Julia James, Suzanne Joyal, Marty Meade and Lisa Summers.
Since 1981, Youth in Arts has been an affiliate of Very Special Arts (VSA), a nonprofit organization founded by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith. Youth in Arts’ Arts Unite Us program is largely supported by a contract with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The program also receives support from the Marin Community Foundation, Marin Charitable and the Buck Family Fund of the Marin Community Foundation.
