Youth Art Month exhibition coming in March

Worcester Art Museum is excited to again host a regional Youth Art Month exhibition this March. Organized by teachers from area school districts in conjunction with the Worcester Art Museum, this multi-media exhibit features student artwork from communities across central Massachusetts. Established in 1961, Youth Art Month (YAM) is an annual observance in March designed to emphasize the value of art education for all youth and to encourage support for quality school art programs. YAM provides a forum for acknowledging skills that are fostered through experiences in the visual arts.

YAM encourages support for quality school art programs and promotes art material safety. The Council for Art Education (CFAE) administers the program at the national level. The program provides a medium for recognizing skills developed through visual arts experiences unlike any other curriculum subjects, including special exhibits that take place annually to celebrate visual art education for grades K – 12. YAM is a month in which thousands of American schools participate every year.

On Sunday, March 12, 2017 an opening reception will be held at the Worcester Art Museum for students and their families. Families are welcomed to attend the opening reception for Grades K-8 between 12:30pm-2:30pm, during which time there will be guest speakers and student musical performances to enjoy.

The exhibit will be open to the public March 1 through April 2 in the Higgins Education Wing of the Worcester Art Museum. Admission to this exhibit is free. In addition to the Worcester Art Museum’s regional YAM exhibit, the Massachusetts Art Education Association will host a statewide YAM exhibit at the Transportation Building in Boston on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Learn more about Youth Art Month

- Ashley Occhino, Manager of Studio Class Programs

Ed Emberley Book Week

I fondly remember my first Ed Emberley drawing book, Ed Emberley’s Big Purple Drawing Book. This book not only introduced me to the world of drawing, but also fed my imagination. From this book I spent hours drawing the images from this book and doing so over and over again. It is because of my experience and that of so many other adults and children that we are observing and sharing Ed Emberley Book Week from February 19-25, 2017.

The Ed Emberley Book Week is designed to encourage readers and artists of all ages to read, draw, and celebrate the gift of imagination and the many worlds created by Emberley and his books. The Ed Emberley Book Week is perfect for libraries and librarians, schools and teachers, parents and children all over the world to draw attention to the works of Ed Emberley. We’ve made the following Book Week tools available for your usage:

• A special week of programming at the Worcester Art Museum and the Worcester Public Library, in conjunction with KAHBAHBLOOOM: The Art and Storytelling of Ed Emberley, on view at WAM through April 9, 2017
• Ed Emberley Coloring Sheets
• Curriculum Guides for K-2 Teachers
• Book Week Reading List Recommendations
• Make-Your-Own-Ed Emberley Book Week Poster!

Please join the Worcester Art Museum in celebrating this storyteller and artist. Pick up a book and read to a class, create a display at your library, school or book store, take to social media and share your masterpiece with us.

Visit Ed Emberley Book Week for more information and happy reading!

Learn more about the Ed Emberley Book Week
Learn more about KAHBAHBLOOOM: The Art and Storytelling of Ed Emberley 

- Adam Rozan, Director of Audience Engagement