Art Zone Gallery opens Monday
Published 2:40 pm Saturday, October 10, 2009
From 6 to 7 p.m. Monday, the public is invited to the Albert Lea Public Library for the opening of the Art Zone Gallery.
The artwork on display was created at the Art Zone Studio, which was a component of the 2009 Summer Reading Program at the Albert Lea Public Library. The Art Zone Studio and Gallery were developed as a working partnership between the Albert Lea Public Library and the Albert Lea Art Center and was open to all area children every Wednesday morning during the summer reading program. An artist from the Art Center was on hand every week to help the children with their creations. Local teens were also a part of the program and they had as much fun helping as the children had creating. The studio produced more than 170 pieces of artwork on hardboard canvases with acrylic paints, paint pens and a variety of other media.
The Art Zone Gallery artwork will be on permanent display in the City Hall stairwells to encourage employees to “take the stairs” as a part of the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project’s goal of adopting a more active lifestyle. Studies have shown that physical inactivity is a risk factor for a variety of life-threatening diseases and taking the stairs is a great way to add physical activity to our day; it’s easy, requires no wardrobe change and the “special” equipment is already installed.
The Art Zone Studio has the added benefit of an admiring audience of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends who will love the children’s work and enjoy seeing it every day for many years to come.