Creative Kids of SRQ enters nonprofit scene with Youth Art Show

Sage Taylor, 10, was happy about a certain red sticker.

It was the one she pasted on her ink drawing of her rabbit's baby, Coconut, to designate it as "sold."

Photo by Ian Swaby

“I’m happy with how it turned out," she said. "I never thought it would ever be bought."

The Youth Art Show, held May 18 at Palm Avenue Fine Art and organized by the new nonprofit Creative Kids of SRQ, was designed to launch the nonprofit's activities with just such an experience.

The nonprofit, which was incorporated in April and is dedicated to encouraging youth engagement with the arts, covered gallery walls with works from students at Lina Rincon Art Gallery & Studio, as well as Children’s Art Classes, resulting in 20 works of art sold.

“The power of art — when you put kids in that mix, you’re seeing it,” said gallery manager Tom Murray, a board member of Creative Kids. “You can feel these kids, when they have their little painting sold, or just when they walk in the door — they’re ecstatic just to have their art in a gallery.”

Stella Samulak, 10, was another young artist who had the chance to showcase her work — an ink drawing of Chewy, one of her family’s two Bernese mountain dogs.

Photo by Ian Swaby

“It’s pretty cool, because I never really displayed anything before. I feel like I will make it into more galleries,” she said. 

Sophie Norton, 13, said she has been practicing art the majority of her life, but her passion developed unconventionally. During art classes with Lina Rincon, she found some of her subjects going “off the rails.”

She now usually paints in the abstract and likes that art doesn’t have to be confined to a precise representation of a subject, although she said she takes her inspiration from landscapes. 

“It’s very special,” she said of the chance to display something different in the gallery.

“If they just learn the techniques when I teach the class, they have the base, but I want to leave them open to express their feelings that way,” Rincon said. “And it’s very nice. They’re doing amazing things.”

Declan Herrold, 6, displayed a collage of his interests that included everything from Pokemon to Christmas items.

Photo by Ian Swaby

“We absolutely love it,” said his mother, Nikole Herrold.  “Usually they do artwork, and then it goes home and ends up on a fridge. So it's really cool that this is such a professional type of atmosphere for them to see their artwork come to life.”

Creative Kids of SRQ is currently planning more events next year, including a Youth Art Walk and a major Youth Art Festival next April on South Palm Avenue.