Inspiring children to draw for 20 years

One mother's belief that all children can be taught to draw has led to a national program that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Bette Fetter of Elgin took what started at her kitchen table - when she taught eight neighborhood children how to draw - to a Buffalo Grove Montessori school first, and later to local preschool centers.

And from there, the world. Literally.

Fast forward 20 years, and Young Rembrandts has become an international after-school art program franchise teaching nearly 35,000 children per week how to draw.

Classes are offered at 70 locations - mostly day care centers, preschools, elementary schools and park districts - in 29 states and South Korea.

This week, they will start up again at many suburban sites, including Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Lake Zurich, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Roselle, Schaumburg, and Wheeling.

One of those sites is at Stevenson Elementary in Elk Grove Village, where Young Rembrandts has been offered for six years.

Principal Leslie Eskildsen says the enrichment program draws third- and fourth-graders, who opt to take it before studying advanced art as part of their regular school day in fifth and sixth grade.

"Visual art, such as the Young Rembrandts Program, emphasizes basic art techniques, skills and principles," Eskildsen says. "Those students who choose this after-school program further develop their knowledge about art and drawing skills."

When Fetter herself was teaching as many as 200 children a week through a variety of preschool and day care centers, she soon began hiring teachers to expand the program.

With her husband's help, she began to franchise the business, leading to its growth.

"We believe all children can and should learn to draw," Fetter says simply.

She points to drawing as the fundamental skill needed for all artistic endeavors, but also that it advances critical-thinking skills and increased self-esteem, attention to detail and independence.

In order to celebrate the milestone, Young Rembrandts is encouraging children to upload their artwork on a virtual "Drawings Across America" mural. These images represent the work of dozens of students from many states, with more posted daily.

More than 20 years ago, Fetter was a young mother with four small children and little time to pursue her studio arts degree.

As her children became school-aged, she immersed herself in their early childhood education, specifically at their Montessori school, where friends approached her to teach their children to draw.

"There were many sports offerings, but nothing in the fine arts," Fetter says.

Consequently, she began teaching them around her kitchen table, using the same step-by-step curriculum her instructors use today. In order to teach her students, Fetter drew on her own art training and combined it with the Montessori teaching methods to design a new way for children to learn art.

This proprietary method dispels the myth that art is a talent, Fetter says, and demonstrates that art can in fact be learned.

"We teach a right brain activity using a left brain process," she says.

Fetter maintains that the process leads to real creativity, cultivating both information --- and imagination.

Children need to have the skills to be able to create, she says, and stimulating children's imagination and natural expression can lead to advancements in other academic subjects as well.

To find out more about the Young Rembrandts program, visit: youngrembrandts.com. For information on the 20th anniversary, visit: drawingacrossamerica.org.