Thursday, January 31, 2013

1/29/13: Blick Art Materials Art Room Aid - Support Art in Schools

Providing funds for our school's art program is near and dear to my heart as I am the President of our PTO and I also run the Art Show yearly.  I love giving kids the tools and ability to show off their creative side.  In support of this initiative I was lucky enough to work with Blick Art Materials Art Room Aid to support our school and provide Art Room Supplies to them.  Read on to see how you can support my children's school's art program and how you can build an Art Wish List for your school.
Art is so important for children.  It is a great way for them to express themselves.  As you enter in to the first hallway in our school you can see the beautiful art that students have made.  I love walking in to school and seeing their creations.  Even though these kids are elementary level some of them can draw far better than I ever could.
It is so fun to see kids work on art they are passionate about.  Last year my son decided to center his Art Fair project around Angry Birds.  He absolutely loves Angry Birds and had such a good time creating and displaying them at school.
Back in 2009 Art Room Aid was created by Blick Art Materials.  Art Room Aid allows art educators to create a "wish list" of items similar to a bridal registry.  This wish list is online and can be shared with your PTO, other teachers and your community in order to provide art materials to your school so students can continue to create works of Art such as these:
Love the colors on these.
I hope you will join me in contributing to the Art Supply Wish list that our Art Teacher has created.  You will be helping the over 700 students at our school be creative.  You can go here to donate to our school:
http://www.dickblick.com/ara/lists/2811/home
It is extremely easy.  You can contribute as much or as little as you would like.
These donations will allow our students to create and make wonderful works of Art like I have displayed here from our Art Show last year.
A wish list can be created by looking at the Blick Catalog online or by going to one of their stores.  I was lucky enough to go to their store at 619 Mass Ave in Cambridge, MA.
As much as I love to shop online I still like to go in to stores and see the merchandise.  Here is the inside of the Cambridge Store. 
All the items are so beautifully displayed. 
 Love the colors of paper.  Sometimes when you look online it is hard to see the actual color of certain items.
So beautifully organized! 
 Easels!
 I love the items in the kids area.
 If you would like to setup a wish list for your school's art program you can create it easily by going to The Art Room Aid Website.  You start by creating an account:  http://www.dickblick.com/ara/Members/CreateAccount
Then from there you can create a Project for your School and add your Wish List and post the list online.  This will allow sharing through Social Networks.  This FAQ is very helpful: http://www.dickblick.com/ara/help/faq
Don't let this be your child's only view in to an Art Room.  We can all make a difference.  Work with your school, your PTO Board, and others in your community and help Art Education stay alive and well in our schools.
BLICK Art Materials you are truly inspirational to create Art Room Aid!
Check out Art Room Aid here: http://www.dickblick.com/ara
Blick Art Materials website: http://www.dickblick.com/
Follow them on Twitter:
@Blick_Art 
@ArtRoomAid
Disclosure: I am being compensated for this post and our school is being given a credit towards art supplies from our wish list.  All opinions are my own and I fully support this project.

1 comment:

John said...

Love the pictures!