Children's Art Gallery
13 Abovyan Street, Yerevan
Armenia has long been famed for its artists, sculptors and stone-carvers, and children are brought up to love art. For this reason the world’s first Children’s Picture Gallery (No. 13 on the corner of Abovyan and Sayat-Nova streets) is of interest. Over the years the gallery has developed into a true centre for developing an aesthetic sense in the rising generation. The spacious building includes exhibition halls, workshops, a concert ball and a library. There have been exhibitions of works by children from the Soviet republics, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Britain, France, the USA, Canada, India and Japan. Every year there are several one-man exhibitions of works by children aged from three to 16. By tradition, all the works exhibited remain the property of the gallery, which now has a collection of over 100,000 drawings. When the modern artist David Siqueiros visited the gallery he called it "a true festival for the children of the planet".
CHILDREN'S ART GALLERY
On March 13,1970 a children's art gallery opened in Yerevan. Apart from periodical shows, there is a permanent exposition which rates the gallery in the rank of museums. The permanent exposition displays works of high standard.
The museum of children's art has acquired international recognition which is borne out by the numerous awards, honors diplomas and medals won by the Armenian kids.
A section of the gallery is allotted to the decorative-applied arts. The halls of the gallery are adorned with colorful masks, dolls, applications, needle-work, mosaic and ceramic ware.
The crafts have been in vogue in Armenia since time out of mind which is attested by the unique specimens of culture: carpets and rugs, jewellery and ceramic ware, khachkars (cross-engraved tombstones), all kind of household goods.
Now attention is focused on restoring the best artistic traditions, on the revival of the crafts and their subsequent evolution. This explains the principal direction in the activities of the gallery and the exhibition of works of the decorative-applied arts.
The wonderfully vivid and expressive works of the little artists are estimated as miraculously beautiful. The kids are coached by talented teachers who do their best for the artistic education of the children. In 1979 a complex for the aesthetic education of children was set on foot which holds out bright prospects. Currently children's art galleries are in the making in the district of Akhurian, in Leninakan, Kirovakan and Goris.
Each exposition is a festival of beauty enjoyed by thousands of kids and adults.
The countless records in the guest-book are replete with lines of admiration, enchantment and gratitude for the organizers of the exposition and the teachers. They also convey best wishes for the creative success of the little Armenian artists.