Two Twelve Arts Center Hosts Exhibit of Children’s Art

For the past five years, the free Art on the Go program from the, has given local kids the chance to participate in art classes ranging from one to hours in length, where they are provided with exciting new projects each day.

Now local residents can admire and enjoy the youngster’s art in a display at the center, located at 216 W. Michigan Ave. in Saline.

“This is great for the exposure of our art community and how Two Twelve Arts Center is making an impact on the youth of Saline,” says instructor Rob Kinsey, who is in his fourth year teaching in the program, that is now in its fifth year.

His colleague Amara Karapas is in her second year teaching Art on the Go. A student at Adrian College for Art Education, where she plays softball for the school, Karapas also has taught Super Stories for kids at Two Twelve, assisted with Pottery Camp, and is a face painter – for Two Twelve and other organizations – during large events and festivals.

“The Art on the Go program has allowed both Amara and me to become better instructors as we both are in pursuit of our Art Education degrees,” Kinsey says.

Each day, the duo takes the Two Twelve Arts Center van to different locations around town to teach art lessons – including the, Summer Camps at Liberty School, The and the Downtown Music Series.

“This summer was our first time working with the Community Education Summer Camps, the Fifth Corner Teen Center and the Downtown Music Series, and it was a huge success,” Kinsey says. “With a positive response to our previous year at the Saline District Library we were able to add another hour-long art lesson to our Mondays at the library.”

The average class size is 13 to16 children, ranging from five to 15 years old. 

“We have some days where we might ask the students to work with a specific theme but allow their imagination to transform their work and make it more personal to them,” Kinsey says. “I enjoy all styles and mediums of art so a major goal of this program is to offer the youth that same opportunity of art exposure. We’ve taught everything from landscape painting using watercolor paint and ink to abstract expressionist portraits.

“My favorite part of teaching children's art classes is the amount of imagination, thought and detail a student can put into their piece of artwork – and also the stories I get to hear about each piece of art they’ve created.” 

To round out the summer, the instructors collect artwork from the Art on the Go program – and from summer camps, drawing classes, and pottery classes/camps -- and hold an artist reception, set for 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12.

“We encourage students to participate and to bring their families for this very exciting evening,” Kinsey says. 

The artwork will be on display at Two Twelve Arts Center for August and will then be displayed at the Saline District Library in October.

Kinsey, Karapas and artist Jennifer Lickers are also working on a community installation on the lawn at the library, of a display of teen artworks that will run for at least three weeks.

“For this installation we’ve been working with advance placement art students and Art on the Go at the Fifth Corner,” Lickers says. “We’ve created the youth art group ‘Creative Marks’ which has been a huge help with problem solving, creating and installing the art work to be displayed. We’ve been working on this project all summer and are very excited to see the end result.”