Photo by Allegra Boverman.

NASHUA – With the upcoming fifteenth annual ArtWALK, which will take place throughout the city from Oct. 19 to Oct. 20, City Arts Nashua is still looking for submissions for the brand new KidsWalk! exhibit to be located in the Telegraph lobby at 110 Main St.

With the hope of showcasing the talent of younger local artist from Nashua and beyond, City Arts is calling for entries from children ages 5 to 18. With the theme of the gallery depictions of what the artists feel is “AMAZING!” the nonprofit is hoping to fill the lobby with wondrous images from the minds of the area’s youth.

“We’re looking for a children’s viewpoint on what is amazing,” said Rebecca Frederickson, one of the two event organizers for the KidsWALK! “When I came up with the concept it was really all about the children’s perception, whether they think it’s amazing that we can send a rocketship up into space, or whether they might find animals and bugs amazing.”

“I’m really curious to see what the kids think is amazing,” she added, “the theme is pretty open and it’s pretty broad.”

The idea of the KidWALK! exhibit, which Frederickson said is a brand new way for the organization to engage children to the ArtWalk, is to get children and their families involved with the weekend’s events while exercising their artistic ambitions.

She said art works to teach children skills they may not be getting elsewhere.

“There are a lot of things that can be learned through the arts,” Frederickson said, “kids that are involved in the arts learn different skills they don’t learn in other things, like problem-solving, critical thinking, perseverance.”

“I think that art has a lot of benefit. It’s sort of a unifying language. Human beings were making art and communicating through it before they had language,” she continued, on the importance art has had going back through millenniums, “so it’s an innate ability for humans to create and commune. I think arts really enrich the artist’s lives.”

The exhibit is free to participate in and all the artwork will be on display throughout the duration of the ArtWalk, and those who participate will be entered into a raffle to win a basket of art-related prizes that will be drawn at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 20.

With submission being accepted until Oct. 17, artist can submit two-dimensional framed artwork not exceeding 11-by-14 inch format of varying mediums, including digital art, photography, pencils, acrylics, watercolors, collage, charcoal, pastels and ink. The artwork can be dropped off any time between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Parents looking for more information can find it at the City Arts Nashua Website, https://www.cityartsnashua.org/, or on the organization’s Facebook page, to print out the entry form, https://www.facebook.com/cityartsnashua/.

Beyond the exhibit on 110 Main St., Frederickson said organization including the YMCA of Greater Nashua and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua are volunteering their time throughout the ArtWALK to put on activities for children.

“We have a few local organizations that are going to volunteer their time for activities,” Frederickson said. “The Boys and Girls Club will be there and they will be doing step dancing performances, and they’ll also be doing a stuffed sushi craft, and there will also be the YMCA doing a craft activities.”

With all the events and activities happening throughout the event, Frederickson said she hopes it will help get children more involved in the entirety of ArtWalk.

“In the past years, one of the things I have noticed was the amount of families and kids in the community coming to ArtWalk,” she said, “and we can increase the engagement of the kids by giving them the opportunity to be exhibited in a gallery at ArtWALK with the hope they would then take the opportunity to go out and meet, and learn about, the other artists that are there.”

Mathew Plamondon can be reached at 594-1244 or mplamondon@nashuatelegraph.com, @telegraph_MatP.

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