Young Artists Brighten Stratfield Neighborhood

Stroll by the corner of Stratfield Road and Fairfield Woods Road in Fairfield and you'll get an idea that artists are nearby.

There are cats in a bush, a man walking his dog, a man reading a newspaper, a woman with a stroller and a little girl blowing dandelions.

While that may not seem unusual on a residential street corner, these are because they're made from brightly-painted wood.

The decorative additions, courtesy of students in the recently-opened Young Artists Studio on Fairfield Woods Road and installed about a week ago, seem like a welcome addition to a street corner mostly known for the vacant building that had housed Stratfield IGA Supermarket.

Nearly 20 children were inside the Young Artists Studio on Thursday afternoon, painting, creating papier-mache pinatas and reviewing artwork on a computer.

Diana Rose Smith, a Roger Ludlowe Middle School seventh-grader who was working on a portrait of a girl entitled "Thinking," said Thursday was her first time at the Young Artists Studio and that she heard about it from her friend, Isabel Furman, also a Ludlowe Middle School seventh-grader.

"This is really fun," Diana, 13, said as she worked on a portrait of a girl with a Mona Lisa-like expression. "I love doing art and have always been a creative person."

Isabel, 13, who created a painting entitled "Art Palette," said she loves going to the Young Artists Studio, which opened May 22 on the second floor of a building by the corner of Fairfield Woods and Stratfield roads. "I love it because I usually don't get to paint stuff, especially on paper like this and with paint like this, and it's fun to be with other people," she said.

Lindsay Faria, a fifth-grader at Jennings School who painted "Butterflies on a Branch," said Thursday was her second time in the 138 Fairfield Woods Road art studio and she too was having fun. "I like it a lot because I don't have paints at home I can use, and it's fun," she said.

Linda Faria, Lindsay's mother, said she was pleased that Priscilla Perotti Igram and Christine Orlando opened the Young Artists Studio because her daughter likes art and there really wasn't a place for her to go in Fairfield. "If you have a passion for art, there's really no place to come in town," she said.

Igram and Orlando had an idea that opening the Young Artists Studio would be well received because they had offered outdoor art classes for children last summer. Those were so popular that they're going to take place this summer as well, Orlando said.

"We started this out of our homes last year...When we realized it was catching on, we decided to find a space, and business has definitely been picking up," Orlando said.

Igram said she thinks parents in the town's Stratfield neighborhood are happy the art studio opened because the focal point of the neighborhood for a long time had been the closing of the small supermarket on Stratfield Road and the attempt by Walgreen's to take over the space. "It feels really good because it's like we're warming up the neighborhood," she said.

The Young Artists Studio, open to children from kindergarten through eighth grade, now has drop-in art programs from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, with a movie night on Fridays that includes pizza for dinner, popcorn, candy and an art project if there's time after the movie.

But the times for drop-in programs likely will change in July because Igram and Orlando plan to have outdoor art classes - several of which are based on the work of Andy Goldsworthy, a renowned British artist who creates art from nature without any man-made materials. "The kids go out and and use only what they find in nature. They take pieces and construct large sculptures and small sculptures," Igram said.

Orlando said she and Igram show a video of Goldsworthy's work before the "Ephemeral Art" class outdoors and the kids quickly catch onto what Goldsworthy is doing. "They get it right away. They can't wait to start," she said.

Igram said she is mostly a self-taught artist and that she did portraits of pets, people and houses after a career in graphic design and marketing. Orlando taught studio art to high school students in Charlottesville, Va. after graduating from Syracuse University with a master of fine arts' degree in communicative design and moved to Fairfield about five years ago. Igram and Orlando met through a mutual friend after Orlando moved to Fairfield.

"I knew Christine was an artist, and we decided to start teaching classes for kids because we felt there was a need for that," Igram said.

Children in Thursday afternoon's drop-in program included the very young and middle schoolers.

Catie Corrigan, 6, said she created two paintings so far in the studio - one of flowers and another of herself. Catie said she likes to paint "because it looks beautiful" and hopes to be a professional artist when she gets older.

Mary Corrigan, 8, Catie's sister, said she usually sketches before she uses acrylic paints and she'd created four paintings of a gumball machine. "It's what I really like," she said.

Mary said she likes going to the Young Artists Studio because she can paint on canvas.

Sean Corrigan, Catie's and Mary's father, said his children had taken outdoor art classes with Igram and Orlando last summer. "They're well known in the neighborhood for doing fantastic work for the children," he said. "We were really excited to hear they were opening their art studio."

The Young Artists Studio's summer camps are held Mondays through Fridays, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., beginning July 5. The first and third weeks include an afternoon or all-day option. The weekly price for morning or afternoon sessions is $230 (or $205 with a buddy) and the weekly price for the full-day option (9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.) in weeks one and three is $400 ($375 with a friend.)

The cost for the drop-in program is $20, and Friday nights' "Movies, Pizza & Treats," from 6:30 to 9 p.m., is offered at $25.

For information, check the Web site, www.youngartistsstudio.com, or call Igram at 203-814-6873, or Orlando at 203-455-4984.