Put art back in the classroom

Today UPS pulled up to the curb in front of Gallery 'N' Gifts with a multitude of giant boxes for one of Tehachapi Valley Arts Association's favorite events. The annual "Put Art Back in the Classroom" campaign.

Over the past four weeks TVAA has been collecting wish lists from local teachers for art supplies desperately needed. Today those supplies arrived and were delivered to various classrooms in five local area schools. Mark Caldwell, a former TVAA art scholarship recipient, volunteered to come in and help sort out the supplies and deliver them to various destinations.

TVAA would like to thank all of its members for their fundraising efforts as well as various businesses around town that sponsored our main art supply fundraiser: Chalk on the Walk. These businesses were: Michael Jones, DDS, Lindsey Ornamental Iron, Smirnoff Photography, Skylark North Glider School, Jennifer's Terrace, K-Mart, Carol Miller, The Loop Newspaper, Dahlia, A Boutique, Linda Clough and "John the Plumber".

This year's efforts purchased: 220 sets of watercolors, 180 paint brushes, dot paint markers, 3 class sets of Crayola modeling clay, scratch art paper and stylus, 300 sheets of watercolor paper, 8 classroom sets of oil pastels, 4,000 craft sticks, 18 pounds of play dough, 2 gallons of glue, 33 bottles of tempera paints, 500 sheets of tissue paper, and 3 sets of washable markers.

Fundraising efforts are already underway for 2016 and TVAA has set a goal to deliver even more art supplies to a greater number of classrooms. If you are interested in donating, or being a sponsor for 2016 Chalk on the Walk please call Gale Caldwell (661)330-8607.