Kids creative juices flow at the Banning Art Hop

Eva was having great fun making new friends, eating shaved ice, making children's crafts and art projects, and watching the cheerleaders perform - her favorite activity of the day, she said.

Up and down San Gorgonio Street, between Ramsey and Williams streets, children were making art projects. But art comes in many forms. The Ballet Folklorico De Banning performed for a cheering audience as they whirled about in brightly colored, long flowing dresses fringed with ruffles and lace.

While the Ballet Folklorico performed and the music played, Donovyn Gray, 14, was engrossed in making a clay vase at the Bear Creek Pottery booth. Donovyn's eyes stayed glued to his task as his hands gently molded a clump of clay while a potter's wheel spun in a dizzying circle - slowly transforming the clump into a vase.

"Art lets you express your feelings," Donovyn said. "It's emotional. It gets my mind off things like homework and lets me create something."

Paul "Bear" Bradford established Bear Creek Pottery and teaches the art of pottery making. Bradford looked on with pride at his young pupil. Bradford pointed out that along with a being a gifted art student, Donovyn is also a high achiever in the classroom with a 3.4 GPA.

"The Art Hop shows the community that art and scholastic achievement go hand in hand," Bradford said.

At the Banning Cultural Alliance booth, Youth Arts Director, Cindy Watson, guided young children in making small projects from a gooey mixture of flour, salt, and water. From this sticky, Play Do like substance, kids created miniature hearts, cats and dogs, and even a slow crawling creature from the "Molluscan class Gastropoda." Commonly known as the snail.

"This is a great day for kids," Watson said. "We have hundreds out here enjoying a super day of art."

Not far from Watson, Gerald Clarke taught young and old alike, how to make gourd rattles at the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center. With just a few simple tools such as a knife and sandpaper, a gourd can be made.

Minnie Tafoya made the long drive from Temecula when she heard about the Art Hop. She made a clapper stick at the Learning Center, and she listened as Clarke gave instructions on her next project, the gourd rattle.

"I've learned traditional songs and heard interesting (Native American) stories while I made my clapper stick," said Tafoya. "When I heard about the Art Hop, I set aside the day to come here. It is so interesting."

Kids also made whirly gigs, a toy from the 1800s; love bugs from colorful pipe cleaners; and they squeezed tube paint on to fast-spinning Frisbees at the Spin Art booth. The colors swirled together from the high speed, creating multihued Frisbees that will glow in the dark.

At the egg-coloring booth, Tony Alvarez watched as his three children - Satima, 6, Shantell, 9, and Valentino 11, painted eggs.

"This is good for the kids," said Tony Alvarez. "They are having a good time learning creative things."