Children learn about optics, art, computers at Beall Center Family Day

EVENT:

A “kid-friendly” introduction to new-media art allows children ages 4-14 to participate in free art and science activities during Family Day at the Beall Center for Art and Technology, UC Irvine. A take-home art project also is offered. The current exhibit is titled “in a thousand drops…refracted glances.”
DATE: Saturday, February 2, 2008
TIME: 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
LOCATION: Beall Center, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, UCI campus, Building 712

BACKGROUND:

Among the Family Day features will be a presentation by The Optics Institute of Southern California. The “Optricks” program teaches principles of light, vision and other optical phenomena in a fun and engaging way. The digital collage currently on display will show how artists use computers to make art.

“Curiosity and wonder drive innovation, and that’s what the Beall Center is all about,” says Eleanore Stewart, center director. “Through our Family Days, we seek to excite and motivate young people to learn basic science, computer programming and visual literacy – these skills are critical to the next generation’s success in the workplace and in life.”

Family Day is scheduled three times per year, in conjunction with Beall Center exhibits. Activities are designed to enhance the exhibits. For the 2006 animation exhibit “Nicking the Never,” Martha Montoya, local cartoonist and creator of Losquitos, helped children draw a cartoon and create digital “Flash” animation in the computer lab.