A box puppet is born!


Fun with puppets at LEAF.


Open Art Residencies
| Open ArtMobile | Suitcase Art
Sample Lesson | Teachers' Guide

Open Art intends to function as your art curriculum. However, we can happily augment your academic curriculum with particular projects at your request.

Our Philosophy

Open Art's Judith Toy acts as a guide. We create a soothing atmosphere in the classroom, using music and art.

At the same time, our workshops and residencies are stimulating, upbeat, often humorous, and very informative. They include some of the vocabulary of the subject discipline as well as examples of North Carolina artists and classic artist's works. We include examples of doable projects for all age groups from pre-schoolers to adults.

Judith discusses the exhibits with students prior to exposing them to the tools and materials they will be using to make their own art. we like emphasize process over product in the joyful art of discovery and creation.

Where children feel really free in their choice of activities and possibilities, there is not only more spontaneous enthusiasm, but more genuine achievement. We try to allow student's natural body rhythms to dominate, by presenting them with an array of tools and materials, as well as visual stimulation, and affording them plenty of time--either with one long visit or several shorter ones-- to complete their work.

We prefer ambiguous, multi programmed materials which suggest to the child a wide number of possible paths of exploration. We discourage slap dash composition. At our satellite sites, we keep open ended hours.

"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child." -- George Bernard Shaw

We are green! Open Art "gleans" refuse, clean and safe "trash," found items, many natural materials, recyclables and lost items for kids to make beautiful art. While some of our materials may not be glamorous, the children delight in recycling throwaway items into art.

Open Art Residencies | Open ArtMobile | Suitcase Art
Sample Lesson | Teachers' Guide