The Rotunda Gallery presents the annual KidsArt exhibition, a celebration of art created by New York City students participating in the Gallery’s education programs during the 2002-2003 school year. An explosion of color, shape, ideas and imagination fills the gallery space, providing a chance to see hundreds of artworks by kids from across Brooklyn. Sponsored by Con Edison, KidsArt will be on view from June 5 to June 21, 2003. The exhibition opens on Thursday, June 5 with KidsDay, a full day of exciting art-making workshops, historical tours, movies, clowns and magicians, and balloons, all free and fun and for the whole family.

The vast array of artworks on display in KidsArt has been created by students ranging from kindergarten to high school, in schools from Bushwick to Coney Island and everywhere in between! The Rotunda Gallery’s educational programs reach over 6,000 students each year from schools throughout the borough of Brooklyn, with gallery visits and a wide variety of in-school art making projects. KidsArt is the culmination of these efforts and showcases the accomplishments of our students with examples of artwork created in every one of the Gallery’s education programs.

KidsArt is curated by Meridith McNeal, the Rotunda Gallery’s Director of Education, who has gathered works in diverse mediums, exploring a wide range of themes: students from I.S. 291 (Bushwick) worked together to create constructed environments inspired by the atmospheric installations of sculptor Louise Nevelson, while in I.S. 220 (Sunset Park) paper mache and paint were used to build expressive masks, based on the students’ study of ancient cultures throughout the world. An entire student exhibit from the school gallery at I.S. 49 in Bushwick will be recreated in the Rotunda Gallery for KidsArt!

KidsDay is co-presented by the Rotunda Gallery, the Brooklyn Heights Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Transit Museum and the Brooklyn Historical Society. The all-day festivities include a variety of art-making workshops in the Gallery on the theme of "Big and Little" for artists of all ages, and other free events around Brooklyn Heights, ending with a cookies and juice reception, courtesy of Morgan Stanley, at 4:00 PM in the Gallery. The reception will include a crown contest; anybody wearing a hand-made crown can compete for great prizes! A schedule of events is attached, reservations are required for many of the programs.