According to mural designer Sangeeta Pande, a group of 27 young artists known as “The Petite Picassos” recently presented an Independence Day gift to the City of Naperville.
During Friday’s meet-and-greet gallery event, Guest of Honor Mayor A. George Pradel met with the group of more than 40 children, ranging in age from 4 to 12 years, who work with artist Pande at her studio in south Naperville.
At the event , the mayor was surprised with a mural, “My Naperville,” a colorful patchwork design created by 27 children under Pande’s artistic direction.
Each child created on canvas a painted rendition of his/her most favorite part of the city of Naperville. The 4 feet by 3 feet canvas includes 27 unique and loved parts of the city, including the Moser Tower, the Blue Angels, The Riverwalk and other city landmarks, said Pande.
Mayor Pradel, who was unaware of the mural project, was thrilled and delighted when he unveiled the work of the Petite Picassos, Pande said.
“This is beautiful, it’s wonderful that you can have a place to go where you can go be an artist and express yourself,” Mayor Pradel said to the students.
“Mayor Pradel loved the artwork and is going to be inviting all of us once he has the artwork hanging on the City Hall wall,” said Pande.
Pande runs summer art camps attended by children from more than 40 local families. During the meet-and-greet event, 180 individual pieces of work created by her students were on exhibit. The genre ranged from pop to impressionism. The themes studied different cultures around the globe, and included representation from Egypt, Africa, Japan, India, China and Australia. More than 1,000 pieces of artwork have been created by her camp this past year.
A 23-year resident of Naperville, Pande has brought up three children in the Naperville District 204 School District. Her youngest child now attends White Eagle Elementary School, where Pande donated her efforts to create a mural depicting popular fairy tales infused with a reading theme. Most recently, she created a mural for Longwood Elementary School depicting the school lion mascot in the lunchroom. Her other murals are at Scullen Middle School and Sabre Hockey.
Pande also has been commissioned with several private assignments nationally and internationally. Her first exhibition is scheduled for January 2013.
For more information, e-mail petitepicassosart@gmail.com.
Photo courtesy of Sangeeta Pande.
