Art in Action, a leading provider of visual art education programs, will celebrate at an awards reception in Menlo Park the winners of its student art contest, aimed at making the time of children brighter when hospitalized at the Stanford Pediatric Emergency Department.

A total of 148 students from 35 different Art in Action schools in the Peninsula area participated in the Stanford / Art in Action Student Art Contest with 228 pieces of artwork. The 17 winners’ artwork will be displayed at an awards reception on June 18 from 5:00 – 6:30 pm at Comerica Bank, 800 Oak Grove, Menlo Park, and then hung in the hallways and patient rooms in the Stanford Pediatric Emergency Department. The winners’ artwork with their descriptions can be seen online at http://artinaction.org/w/stanford_contest_gallery.

“We are delighted that so many Art in Action students and their parents decided to help other children in distress by creating and submitting special artwork for the walls of the children’s emergency room,” says Judy Sleeth, Executive Director of Art in Action. “I am very impressed with the children's imagination and the creativity found in many of the artworks,” states Moo Anderson, a member of the ten-person judging committee, which also included several professional artists, art teachers, and parents with an art background.

 “I painted an ocean picture because the colors and fish are so bright and beautiful to make children happy when they see it,” says one of the winners, Jordan Luke, a 4th grader at Arundel Elementary School in San Carlos. “This artwork is about swans soaring in the air during sunset. It will bring a sense of freedom and ability to do anything you want,” says another winner, 2nd grader Helen Ye of Sandpiper Elementary School in Redwood City.

“Anisha wants to donate her favorite artwork to bring smiles to children in the hospital,” says Sonali Patwardhan, Foster City, referring to her daughter’s collage Three Musicians, inspired by Pablo Picasso.

The Art in Action visual art education program fosters creativity, critical thinking, self-expression, and cultural awareness in students, and it supports schools in building a student-parent-teacher community through the arts. Art in Action was founded in 1982 and is a nonprofit organization. Read more about Art in Action at www.artinaction.org.

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