Yerevan’s Children's Art Gallery is holding an exhibition of nearly 100 works of Armenian-American children’s paintings. The reason for the show is the fulfillment of an old agreement.
"Years ago, we went with the late renowned Armenian art critic Henrik Igityan to visit our partner Vladimir Atanyan’s newly opened School of Fine Arts in Los Angeles. We were very happy that they had an art course for the Armenian-American community’s children,” said Children's Art Gallery Director Armenuhi Harutyunyan.
At the time, just a few children were involved in the school, which was quite small. Now its impact and reach have grown immensely.
“Years ago, we agreed to cooperate. We promised to arrange a showing of their students’ work here in Yerevan,” Armenuhi said.
While most of these children have never been to Armenia, they painted with the sweet and warm colors typical of Armenian art. It is as if the images of their motherland live in their dreams -- its architecture, its cultural monuments, holidays, traditions and the folk heros depicted in our epic tales.
"Most of these children’s grandparents and other relatives live in Armenia. You can’t imagine what kind of excitement was present here on the opening day. So many came to admire their work," said Armenuhi, who also mentioned that a similar cooperation will be started in Lebanon, Cyprus and other Diaspora communities around the world.
Naira Hambardzumyan is one of this year’s Margaret Ajemian Ahnert Scholars.