TBE students' art to be shown in gallery

Some island children won't have to wait to dabble in one profession: They can have their first gallery exhibit right now.

Botero Gallery & Picture Framing will give several Tommie Barfield Elementary students the chance to get in touch with their inner Claude Monet beginning Friday, Nov. 21.

The gallery will display between 20 and 25 original works of art created by Tommie Barfield students, said Juan Munera, owner of the gallery.

"We want to promote art and encourage kids to be artists, show them it's a good thing," Munera said.

The school last year brought 12 selected pieces of student artwork to Botero. After the gallery framed them, Tommie Barfield hung the works of art in its hallways.

"They brought them to us to frame, which we did," Munera said. "We liked doing it very, very much, and we decided to do something else for them."

Munera decided to work with the school again this year. The school sent home letters to parents inviting them to exhibit their children's artwork.

"Whoever wanted to submit them could," Munera said. "It wasn't a contest or anything."

Framed, matted pieces of student art will hang in the gallery for about a week, Munera said. Botero offered this year's participants a reduced framing price, $110 for a gold frame and two mattes. The price usually is $210.

Because the students were restricted to paper rather than canvas or other surfaces, the majority of their works were in watercolors or crayons. Also, they were limited in size to 16 inches by 22 inches.

"We want to show them different ways they can enhance a small piece of art that may seem insignificant," Munera said. He said he also would like to get island parents interested in the gallery and let them know what Botero has to offer.

"It feels really good to get involved with the school and the kids," he said. "I'm excited about it."

Once the gallery takes down the works of art, it will return the pieces to the artists.