Artist displays personal work, children's art

Emma Steele, a student at KinderFrogs, is drawn to the portrait of herself. Photo by: Robyn Shepheard

Fort Worth, TX

2/21/2007

Michelle Euperio, TCU Daily Skiff

Portraits and paintings from some of the littlest Horned Frogs will hang in a local art gallery this week.

Albanian artist Grigor Aleksi spent two months making portraits of the KinderFrogs children to show in his gallery, Studio Sabka, after his wife who teaches at KinderFrogs inspired him to do so.

Saturday was opening night of the art exhibit and was filled with parents, children and faculty from KinderFrogs.

"We are so pleased that KinderFrogs allowed us to do this and so thankful," said Laert Aleksi, Grigor's son. "These portraits truly capture the joy and beauty of these children."

KinderFrogs School is an on-campus training site for students in the School of Education and is an early childhood educational center for children with Down syndrome and a small number of typically developing children, said Vivian Unger, the Kinderfrogs Schools' administrative assistant.

Some of the children's own artwork is framed and displayed in the gallery beside the portraits Aleksi painted of them.

"The children's artwork looks modern," Laert Aleksi said. "Some of the pieces are splashes of different colors of paint, while others have fishes, stars and hands. But it's all so cute, just too cute."

Grigor Aleksi used bright color pencils and pictures of the children to create the portraits.

Grigor Aleski decided to display his portraits of the children and their artwork to show his appreciation for the KinderFrogs faculty, children and their parents, Laert Aleksi said.

While Aleksi's other portraits usually sell for $600, KinderFrog portraits could be purchased for $150, as Aleksi wanted to do something special for the KinderFrog parents. Some of his other paintings are priced up to as much as $11,000.

After the exhibit, children will get their own artwork back, toys and a card containing a smaller scale picture of their artwork and their portrait, Laert Aleksi said.

Irene and Mark Mason were pleasantly surprised with the portrait of their son, Dexter, and Studio Sabka.

"The portrait turned out really well," Irene Mason said. "I'm amazed how well it turned out."

© Copyright 2007 Daily Skiff