By Lana Hy
Staff Writer
The San Gabriel Library is currently hosting its free six-week Stress Less Art For Teens event from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Friday, starting Feb. 1 and ending on March 8.
This workshop is led by artist Claudia Hindu who has been instructing art classes for ten years.
The next class will be tomorrow where attendees will learn the different painting strokes and will be exposed to using watercolors.
Last Friday, students worked with clay to make different types of sculptures.
Each class has a different focus each week. On Feb. 15, the theme was sketching and painting self-portraits.
Hindu explained the proportions of the face as she drew the placement of the eyes, nose, and mouth on a board.
She had her class sketch out their own faces lightly on a piece of paper. Students would then transfer what they drew onto a canvas and add color with paint.
“When I was told I could do whatever I wanted with the general instructions I was given, it made me really excited,” said sophomore Bernice Li. “I had a lot of fun creating and also saw a lot of people in the class having a great time too.”
On Feb. 8, the focus was word art. Hindu gave each of her students a wooden frame and a piece of paper.
The instructor told her class to think of their own inspirational quote, preferably a saying that could motivate them to get out of bed.
“There weren’t too many rules and restrictions,” said Li. “We could let our imagination and creativity run free.”
Afterwards, the class wrote down their quote and decorated the frame.
During the first art class of the workshop on Feb. 1, students started out learning about contemporary art.
In the middle of the room, there was a case with a rose in it. The class was informed to either paint the rose and add their own touch to it.
After analyzing the rose, students painted their own flower on a canvas using acrylic paint.
“I always look forward to these art classes because doing art is very comforting,” stated sophomore Lauren Chung. “My mom even [rescheduled] my piano classes just so I could do this.”
This workshop is available to anyone ages 12-18 who has registered in person or over the phone and is funded by a grant from the San Gabriel Community Foundation.
