Art To Grow On Program

Art to Grow On is a non-profit, art enrichment organization that serves the creative development needs of school children in the greater Harbor area, including Park Western Place. Operated entirely by parents and community volunteers, these “docents” bring artistic experiences to every classroom at Park Western Place.

Art to Grow On’s school year program consists of four to five projects designed by professional artists. For each project, parent docents attend workshops where they receive instruction from the artist in how to present and teach the project to the children.

We need volunteers to teach classes or assist with this program! It's a fun way to engage the students and make a difference – no creativity required! Learn more at ArtToGrowOn.com.

The Art to Grow On program is a great opportunity for you to enrich the students at Park Western Place, and it's creative fun to boot!

Your donations can make a difference!
Art to Grow On is only possible with parent support. If you can't volunteer time to the program, there are other ways to help:

$2 will buy a new paintbrush
$5 will pay for 1 child's project supplies for the school year
$10 will buy a pad of media paper or half gallon of paint
$25 will pay for a whole class to do 1 project
$40 will send one of our parent docents to project training
$100 will offer a quality art experience to 100+ kids!

This is our most expensive program of the year for our kids and we can use your help! You can make your donation as a check made out to the Park Western Place PTA with ATGO in the memo line.

Philosophy

The philosophy of Art to Grow On is to inspire creative and mental growth through meaningful art experiences in a non-judgmental environment.

Consider everything an experience. Nothing is a mistake.

Our principal message is that children’s creativity cannot be taught. It is already there! It can only be liberated and nurtured. The art experience should stimulate a child's motivation to learn, to make choices, to be flexible and to adapt.

Projects

Every year the Art to Grow On program offers 5 different and unique multimedia art projects. Projects are prepared by local artists and focus on a variety of past and modern artists and their techniques and creative styles. Past projects include sand sculptures, painting, modeling with clay, and drawing with a variety of media. Instruction also includes information on the artist who inspired the project and/or the history of the techniques. It is hoped that the students will take away not only their finished art projects, but a bit of art appreciation as well. See the projects here: www.ArtToGrowOn.com

Volunteer

Our ATGO Docents meet together for hands on project training five times throughout the year to learn the new projects for the students. You will learn art history and great step-by-step art techniques as you make your own project, and see anywhere from 80-100 other finished works from the attending docents. Then they will return to Park Western and lead art classes for the students. It's exciting to see the faces of the students as they create something unique to them.