Coral Springs Forum | Sun-Sentinel.com

Out of the box thinking often works wonders. Instead of waiting for children to visit the museum, Coral Springs Museum of Art staff members are taking art to classrooms in the community these days.

Recently, museum’s director of education Barry Treu and a few of his co-workers spent time at Maplewood Elementary School in Coral Springs, talking art and stoking the artistic talents of students. The main topic of discussion was artist George Rodrigue and his popular “Blue Dog” paintings that are now being exhibited at the museum.

“We had four to five staff members at the school for an hour from 9 a.m. every day last week,” Treu said. “We used pictures of the Blue Dog exhibit, which is very popular with kids and parents, on a digital projector and asked the students to be creative.”

“The whole idea was to make the kids think like artists. They were terrific. We plan to do more of this in the future," Treu said.

The art outreach program involved students in first through fifth grades, said Sherry Bees, school principal.

Parent volunteer Sonja Friedbauer said she hoped the program would bring more visitors to the museum.

“My kids have enjoyed going there. Unfortunately, many people in the city don’t know about the museum,” she said. “It’s a great place, but we will lose it if we don’t support it.”

For information about the Coral Springs Museum of Art, call 954-340-5000. Arun can be reached at 954-574-5339.

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PHOTO: From left, Thomas Gallerani and Cristian Rodriguez, both 9 of Coral Springs, are assisted by parent volunteer Tammy Valvano during the "Art Outreach to Maplewood" program. Staff photo/Kimberli DiMare
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