International Art Show Sees Culture, Colors, World Community Through Children’s Eyes

The numbers are astounding: 45,789 paintings, drawings, sketches, woodcut designs and collages; 75 countries and territories.

Those figures describe this year’s entries in the International Children’s Art Exhibition, quite possibly the world’s largest art contest. This year’s judging process lasted from January to April; in May, 10,300 pieces (602 from the United States) were singled out for recognition. Two hundred fifty of those award-winning artworks, including six from students in the Los Angeles area, are on display at 26 Los Angeles County Public Libraries through Dec. 22.

The contest and exhibition began in 1970 in Osaka, Japan, after Biiku Bunka Kyokai (Japan’s Foundation for Art Education) and the Nippon Television Network Cultural Society got together with Pentel Corporation and decided to plan an international children’s art show. Schoolchildren ages 5 to 15 are eligible to compete.

“The purpose was twofold,” said Mark Welfley, ICAE coordinator for Torrance-based Pentel of America (the U.S. subsidiary of Pentel Co.), “to foster artistic development around the world and to create an artistic forum for the international community that transcends cultural and political barriers.”

“Each of the 13 Pentel offices around the world acts as a clearing house,” Welfley said. “Art is gathered from each area and submitted to Tokyo for judging.”

Welfley is the point man for the U.S. “clearing house.” New artworks are currently flooding into his office for next year’s contest.

“What surprises me most is the detail I see,” Welfley said. “And also their ability to mix colors. You don’t just get the average red, blue, green and orange. You get shades that show that these kids really recognize how colors fit together. I know that if I live to be 95 I won’t create work as colorful as these 5-year-olds.”

Instead of cash prizes, winning students receive medals, certificates of recognition and art supplies. The prizes are meant to encourage the students to continue their art.

“Some of these kids come from underprivileged areas,” Welfley said. “Giving them art materials is a stroke, a shot in the arm that builds up their confidence.

“One of the criteria is the depiction of native characteristics. We want children to think about the world around them. That way children in China will know how a young student in Costa Rica lives.”

And what are the native characteristics of children from the United States? Welfley sees it all.

“Children from Alaska tended to submit entries of fishermen, lots of water and sunsets, fish and seals,” he said. “Creations from the southern part of the U.S. depicted cotton fields, tobacco fields, old historic houses. I found that in entries from the Midwest there were lots of family and people pictures: Thanksgiving scenes or a family in a car off to a picnic, or school buses. It was more a grass-roots educational approach.

“Children from this part of the country in the West were more involved with sports. Cars were very popular . . . and a lot drew self-portraits.”

Hosting libraries of the International Children’s Art Exhibition include: La Canada Flintridge Library, 4545 N. Oakwood Ave., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, noon to 9 p.m. Wednesdays, noon to 6 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays (818) 790-3330. Las Virgenes Library, 29130 W. Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills, noon to 9 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays, noon to 6 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, (818) 889-2278. Lancaster Library, 1150 W. Avenue J, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays (805) 948-5029. Valencia Library, 23743 W. Valencia Blvd., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays (805) 259-8942.