National Art League's March Show Focuses on Children's Perspectives

This year, the National Art League’s annual March member show aims to inspire attendees to feel like a kid again.

The show includes 78 pieces of work from 61 artists who are members of the Douglaston-based gallery.

This year’s theme is “In a Child’s World.”

“People really thought out of the box this year,” said Karmen Elsen, the show’s curator. “We asked them to be a child again, so we have pictures of Ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds. A lot of people used their imaginations.”

The show includes everything from realistic and expressionist works to abstract paintings and sculpture. One piece is an Etch-a-Sketch.

Works in the exhibit were done in watercolor, oil, acrylic, pencil, collage and mixed media.

In terms of subject matter, there are portraits, a painting of a boy and his dog, a picture of a child with a tooth missing, paintings of toys, a portrait of a matriarch with her family, depictions of children with kittens and one of a father and son fishing.

The show will run through the end of the month. The gallery’s reception for artists participating in the exhibit will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on March 17.

Robert Carter, a professor at Nassau Community College, is the show’s judge. First-place winners will receive $150, while second-place gets $100 and third place takes home $50.

Honorable mention and merit awards will also be handed out during the reception.

The National Art League is located at 44-21 Douglaston Parkway.