Stuart preschoolers exhibit at Princeton Public Library

By: Rachel Silverman
   Pablo Picasso once said that every child is an artist. An ongoing exhibit at the Princeton Public Library, featuring the artistic talents of preschool children, clearly supports the master’s adage.
   The exhibit illustrates the work of Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart preschoolers who, with some help from their eighth-grade mentors, created a series of Japanese-style paintings and haiku poetry.
   The collection, appropriately located in the children’s department, also marks the library’s first art exhibit.
   Jan Johnson, manager of youth services at the library, expressed her satisfaction with the new third-floor gallery, which she described as a "beautiful, curved space …child-friendly … so attractive."
   Carol Church, one of the Stuart teachers involved, also seemed impressed by the student gallery.
   "For me these paintings, children’s paintings, are the most beautiful," she said. "We’re honored to have the first opportunity to exhibit our work here."
   Using black tempera paint, the paintings illustrate a Japanese bird species known as red crowned cranes. The accompanying haiku poems incorporate "the children’s often poignant and comical phrases," according to a press release.
   Both elements of the exhibit are part of a yearlong unit on Japan in which students have practiced yoga, learned about origami and created a large papier-maché replica of the islands making up Japan, among other things.
   Motivated by the quality of her students’ work, Ms. Church called up the library to inquire about exhibiting opportunities.
   "They were just so beautiful and we thought, ‘Let’s share,’" she said.
   Ms. Johnson, for her part, hopes such sharing continues into the future, and that the gallery space will continue to be used by local schools.
   "I want it to be ‘the’ place to display children’s art," she said. "I hope art teachers will sign up months in advance."