Saturday art instruction for kids Neri Luzietti, right, an art education major at NAU, helps fourth-grade students mix colors during one of last year’s Saturday Studio sessions. Registration is now open for NAU's popular Saturday Studio that brings art to Flagstaff children in grades K-6. Saturday Studio provides instruction in mask making, papier-mache, drawing, book-making and art games. Presented by senior-level art education students in NAU's Fine Arts building from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Oct. 7, 14, 21 and 28, the program costs $20 per child if registered before Oct. 5, and $30 if registered after Oct. 5. To register, call Pam Stephens at (928) 523-2432 or go to www.nauchildren.blogspot.com.

Bringing art to kids
after school

Students at Flagstaff's South Elementary Beaver School are brushing up on their art skills thanks to a new art Student-to-Student Mentorship program launched at Northern Arizona University.

By pairing senior art education majors with entry-level art education majors, the program provides hands-on teacher training while bringing art instruction to children during their after-school programming through the 2006-07 school year.

Pam Stephens, a professor of art education at NAU, developed the Student-to-Student Mentorship program to benefit both art education majors and children. The Arizona Board of Regents is supporting the program with a $25,000 Learner-Centered Education grant.

"The arts are at the very core of all we need to know and what we should be teaching," Stephens said. "The critical thinking skills that students develop when they are in arts classes extend to other content areas."

According to Angela Herrelko, the after-school coordinator at South Beaver Elementary, "This hands-on program is more than just drawing on paper; it also provides details about artists and their techniques that the children wouldn't get otherwise. The students also will be taking weekly field trips to the NAU Art Museum."

Nancy Walkup, the editor of School Arts magazine and art educator, helped train the NAU art education students for the program said Stephens.

NAU Theater students are getting in the after-school action, too. They will make six visits to the Student-to-Student Mentorship program to provide a taste of drama instruction.

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