The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Steve Parente

This student was one of 8,000 people who participated in last year's Hands on the Arts.

Sunnyvale kids get their hands on art

By Maggie Benson

Dorit Elisha will offer a helping hand to her fellow Sunnyvale residents this weekend--more precisely, several helping hands.

As part of the 13th annual Hands on the Arts, Elisha will teach children to create a good-luck charm commonly found hanging in the doorways of Israeli and Middle Eastern homes: an outstretched hand with a turquoise-colored eye in the center.

"It's meant to stop evil from coming into your home," Elisha, explained. Using Styrofoam as the base and colored tin foil, beads and markers to add decoration, the kids will create their own charms to take home, and in the process, they'll learn a little something about Middle Eastern culture.

"I will have explanations of what it all means--where it comes from--so [the workshop] will be part of the multicultural event," Elisha commented.

Elisha is one of 50 artists who will be teaching school-aged children next Saturday about other cultures through the arts. For $3 apiece, kids ages 5-13 can partake in any number of workshops, which bear such titles as Mexican Folkloric Fun, Celtic Stained Glass Windows and Hindu Music Journey. Other offerings include quilting, origami, puppet and mask-making, heritage flags and African drumming.

"In the Mexican folk dance, the kids dress up in authentic costumes and participate," Glenn Hannon, chair of the event, explained. "They aren't just being told about the different cultures. They are being shown."

Hands on the Arts started more than a decade ago after budget cutbacks forced schools to drop arts programs at the elementary school level, according to Hannon. As a solution, the city of Sunnyvale joined with the Arts Council of Santa Clara County to organize the event.

This year, the festival will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 16 at the Sunnyvale Community Center at 550 E. Remington Ave. Entrance to the festival, which is sponsored by Advanced Micro Devices, is open to the public and is free. Last year 8,000 people attended the event.

Elisha has been bringing her children, now 7, 11 and 14 years old, to Hands on the Arts for nine years.

Her daughter, Dafna, a sixth-grader at Stocklmeir School said the festival is more fun than the art programs at her school. "It's a lot longer, and you get to do a lot more things," she said. "There's a lot more to do."

For more information on Hands on the Arts, call the city at 730-7350.

[ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ]

This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 13, 1998.
©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.