This summer, the nonprofit organization Crayon Collection is joining forces with the J. Paul Getty Museum to enhance their Virtual Art Explorations program with art-making for children everywhere. The program focuses on unlocking children’s creative potential through the awesome power of the crayon and involves educators sharing artwork from the world-renowned Getty Collection as inspiration.
And making this experience even better? It’s FREE to kids everywhere.
Virtual Art Explorations
The month-long program begins June 21, and takes place over Zoom, allowing children from all over the country to take part. The sessions will be available for free to all children in kindergarten through 5th grade, and the Crayon Collection will even be providing new crayons to all program participants that request art-making supplies.
This collaboration deepens the experience of the Getty museum’s already fantastic Virtual Art Explorations by incorporating professional artists from the Crayon Collection Art Education Program. Children who participate in this program not only get to learn about art from the museum’s incredibly knowledgeable docents, they also get to create their own art utilizing the beloved medium of crayons.
“Crayons are one of the most basic, nostalgic tools for every childhood,” Sheila Michail Morovati, President and Founder of Crayon Collection, tells Parentology. “They can inspire children to color outside of the lines, think bigger, and be creative, which are all very important skills for the next generation of leaders. The crayon allows children to express themselves easily and access their creativity without much prep time or need for adult guidance.”
The idea behind the Crayon Collection was born after Morovati realized her daughter received a new set of crayons every time they sat down at their favorite restaurant, and that these crayons would invariably end up in the trash by the end of the meal.
“I noticed the same thing happened to all the tables around us,” she explains. “I did a little research and discovered that restaurants in the US throw away more than 150 million crayons a year, which are made of paraffin wax and do not decompose. I also learned that teachers in the US spend an average of $900 a year of their personal earnings on classroom supplies.”
These two facts became the driving force in the creation of the Crayon Collection. The organization facilitates the upcycle of slightly used crayons from restaurants to vulnerable classrooms in their area. The process not only reduces waste but also provides the schools with much-needed art tools and alleviates some of the pressure put on educators to provide their own supplies.
“The J. Paul Getty Museum is proud to partner with the Crayon Collection to add a creative art-making component to our K12 Virtual Art Explorations,” Keishia Gu, Head of Education at J. Paul Getty Museum said in a press release. “A crayon is a worthy and … accessible medium for our youngest art explorers.”
The Getty Museum, located in Los Angles, and is recognized for its pre-20th century European paintings, drawings, and decorative arts. According to its website, the Getty “seeks to inspire curiosity about, and enjoyment and understanding of, the visual arts by collecting, conserving, exhibiting and interpreting works of art of outstanding quality and historical importance.”
How to Register
Reservations for the free program are available for groups of 8 – 24 students and require at least one adult from a school or other organization to be present online at all times. Registration closes two weeks before each session is scheduled to begin. However, there are still many openings available for dates in July. Registration will remain open until through the week of July 12.
Educators can sign up through the museum’s website here.
Sources
Crayon Collection
J. Paul Getty Museum
Getty Arts Access program
Crayon Collection Art Education Program