Elliston, a Horizon West resident, was Teacher of the Year at Sand Lake Elementary in 2015 and also received the Kessler Grand Bohemian Teacher of Excellence Scholarship award for excellence in teaching fine arts.
Elliston launched Kids Create Art with the belief that a child’s creativity and imagination are two of their most precious gifts. Her goal is to provide an artistic experience that allows students to grow in a safe and nurturing environment that promotes artistic freedom. That’s what Matthews loves about Kids Create Art.
“The basis behind it is that we want to encourage a lot of creativity with kids, and we want every child to know that they are an artist without feeling like they have to conform to something being right or wrong,” Matthews said. “With the way we teach art, we learn about different artists, and we show different techniques and how to do certain things. We work on a project that’s inspired by an artist, but then the kids are free to really