Tearing down walls to creativity

During a recent open house at the Sketch-a-roo children's arts center in Ashland, Jack Emberly,Haley Boccuzzi, and Isabel and Marisa Drozeck experiment with oil pastels as drawing tools. (Charlotte Boccuzzi)

The rear wall at Sketch-a-roo in Ashland is a mess and that's just how they like it. At this new children's art center founded by two local mothers, kids are free to unleash their creativity - and a whole lot of tempera paint - right on a taped-off area of washable wall. It's even OK if the young artists go outside the lines, because creating outside the usual boundaries is what Sketch-a-roo is all about.

"We're not offering craft classes. We're teaching art techniques and creativity," said cofounder and Lee Ann Gun, a graphic designer. "When kids make crafts, the teacher holds up an example and kids look and try to make exactly what they see. What we want to do is say, 'Here's how you can use this material, here are your tools,' and then see what they come out with."

The center opened for classes Tuesday, and inside its colorful storefront space in Ashland's Ledgemere Plaza, where Eliot Street crosses Route 126, tools and inspiration abound. A 12-foot-long gold-framed blackboard is marked "Please draw on me!" Atop gleaming birch shelves, a rainbow of tempera paints in giant pump bottles beckons. Posters of artworks by the greats like Miró and Monet hang on the walls near pieces by young unknowns like "Molly" and "Emma."

Meanwhile, tiny easels stocked with watercolors stand at the ready, and colorful tubs tucked into cubby holes hold all manner of art supplies, from buttons, scissors, and paste to the unexpected, like tennis balls. The balls will be used for an "action art" project a la Jackson Pollock, where kids will dip them in paint and dab, brush, and roll them across a group canvas.

"The sky's really the limit on what you can make art with," said the center's other founder, Kim Kotob, who has a degree in early-childhood education. "But these days not everybody has time to clean up the mess art can make at home, and not everybody will go out and buy something like a big hunk of real clay, so we'll do it for them."

But despite Sketch-a-roo's fun atmosphere, its curriculum of classes for ages 2 to 10 is a serious program. Gun and Kotob offer seven-week sessions organized around themes such as master artists, children's books, and "art in the real" world, like murals and comics. Each is designed to gently work in art history, art concepts, and exposure to different media in an age-appropriate way.

So, for example, students will be introduced to Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel and then they'll crawl under tables, lie on their backs, and paint their own "ceiling" frescoes. Or they'll learn about printmaking via works like Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans" and then ink real leaves and carve Styrofoam to make their own prints.

"When we decided to do this, we thought we might get people in here who are disappointed that there isn't more art being taught in the schools, but I was afraid that there might not be enough people who think like us," said Gun. "But there are and it's refreshing. We've had a good response to our outreach."

Denise Montoya, who signed up her 5-year-old daughter after visiting an open house, is grateful Gun and Kotob took the risk. "My daughter loves art and it's nice to have a class like this offered in this town and not have to go elsewhere," she said.

Beth Mintz of Holliston signed up her 4-year-old after watching her take to the space. "There are not a lot of programs where we live for kids her age, and at the open house she just loved it. She got to paint on the wall and play with clay and thought it was great."

For Kotob, 39, and Gun, 41, the center marks the shift back to work after time off to stay at home with their own kids.

"About two years ago we were sitting at play group talking about what we'd do when we went back to work, and we said we thought it'd be great to do something like this for children," said Gun. "But our kids weren't old enough yet, so we tabled it."

Then while on vacation in April, Gun decided it was time. She and her husband, Steve, came up with a name, her 6-year-old twin daughters drew the perfect logo on a napkin, and Gun called Kotob as soon as they returned home.

"It's been a whirlwind," said Kotob. "We knew this space was empty and that it was a great drop-off location. You can drop your kid here for an hour and a half class and then run off to grocery shop at Market Basket or Shaw's. So we just went for it."

How far they'll go from here, they don't know. But they do have hopes.

"We keep joking that we'll expand clear down to Florida," said Kotob.

Sketch-a-roo, 300 Eliot St., Ledgemere Plaza, Ashland. Classes are open for registration. Kotob and Gun will offer introductory art activities at Ashland's Town Day on Sept. 20, and Holliston's Town Day on Sept. 27. 617-429-9204, sketch-a-roo.com.

SIX-STRING EVENINGS: Whether you like your guitar flowing easily under the riveting voice of one of the area's most respected singer-songwriters, or prancing under the fast-moving fingers of a classical virtuoso, tomorrow night offers two concert highlights.

In Sudbury, folk favorite Greg Greenway celebrates the release of his new CD, "Standing on the Side of Love," with an intimate 7:30 show as part of the Fox Run series of house concerts.

And in a return engagement at Gore Place in Waltham, Santiago Díaz will perform classical and romantic era music by Spanish and Latin composers at 7 p.m. in the mansion's Great Hall.

Greg Greenway, 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, location of house concert in Sudbury given upon reservation. Tickets $20. 978-443-3253, foxrun.org. Santiago Díaz performs 7 p.m. tomorrow at Gore Place, 52 Gore St., Waltham. Tickets $20. 781- 894-2798, goreplace.org. Seating for both events is limited.

MEET OUR OLYMPIANS: What was it like to compete in Berlin in the most controversial Olympics of modern times? What is it like to row your way almost to gold? How do you get fit enough to be an Olympic triathlete? Area Olympic athletes give a firsthand account of the world's most famous sports competition tonight in Weston, with WBUR's Bill Littlefield hosting.

Guests span the decades, from US track team member Josephine Warren Madden, who competed in the 1936 Games in Berlin, to Sudbury native Jarrod Shoemaker, who finished 18th in the triathlon last month in Beijing.

Other guests include 1952 ski team captain Imogene Fish of Weston; 2000 bicycle team member Nicole Freedman; and rowers Tom Kiefer of Wayland (1984), Carol Feeney (1992), and Holly Hatton (1980).

To be held in the Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History on the Regis College campus, the evening has a philatelic link. The museum's ongoing "The Olympics on Stamps" exhibition can be toured as part of the free event.

Meet the Olympians event is 7 p.m. tonight at the Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History, 235 Wellesley St., Weston. Free admission. Refreshments served. "The Olympics on Stamps" exhibition runs through Sept. 30. Museum hours: Thursday-Sunday, noon-5 p.m. Admission: $8, seniors $5, under age 16 free. 781-768-8367, spellman.org.

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