On Friday, Oct. 28, the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce held a Halloween-themed art reception for 10 students of the Snoqualmie-based Smart with Art after-school program.

At the reception, the students spoke about their artwork, how they made it, and what they learned from the program.

Michelle Dutton, Smart with Art co-owner, said the Snoqualmie Arts Commission wanted to display some of the children’s artwork in the Chamber of Commerce and hold a reception. The art will be displayed in the Chamber building through December for visitors and community members to see.

“In partnership with the Snoqualmie Arts Commission, they came in and selected some of our students’ artwork that they wanted to hang for the Chamber and have a reception,” she said. “It’s hung here all month and all the kids come out and talk about their artwork, share something about their technique that they learned, show their parents and community what they loved about it, what technique they used and something about the medium.”

Art teacher Kori Mankowski explained the theme of the show and how the class is run.

“This theme is called road trip U.S.A., each week we pretend to travel and wherever we travel, we learn about it, we associate it with an artist and we create a production with a different medium,” she said.

“The kids come after school and spend four hours in the studio and we do all media, all different types of artwork.”

Smart with Art classes are from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Fridays. A new session of lessons will begin in January. For more information, visit smartwithart.net.