Future Picassos and Monets displayed their work recentlyat St. John Neumann Regional School's annual Art Show in Palmerton.

"I love the art show. It's one of my favorite events," said Erin Galsbach. Her daughters go to St. John Neumann and had work on display.The show gives parents and the community an opportunity to see the work the children have done throughout the school year.Art teacher Patty Passick works with children in fourth through eighth grade. She said her goal is to help the students learn to create perspective in their art. This involves styles like trompe l'oeil, which look realistic and almost three-dimensional. One such project involved creating a doorway with steps leading up to it and through the open door seeing rolling hillsides and a path. The students learned about shadowing, use of diagonal lines and making some objects smaller to look further away."I'm working with the illusion of depth," she said.Paula Zelienka teaches art to children in grades kindergarten through third grade."We try to stick with the basics," she said. "We use a lot of color theory and compensational skills. And of course they're young, so we work on scissors skills."She said that instead of telling her students to draw a particular subject, she tells them to do what she is doing. For instance, one project was a lion's head. Zelienka said if she had told them to draw a lion's head, the mane would be in shades of yellow, orange and brown. By following her, they drew lions with a rainbow of colors in the mane and were able to see the subject in a different way.Certainly her students learn much from her, but Zelienka said it goes the other way, too."I find myself learning from them every year, and that just make me a better art teacher," she said.Over the years, she has found that the children are very willing to new art mediums and explore their abilities."They have no fear, and they all think theirs is the best," she said, which she finds is a great opportunity to build up their self-confidence.Zelienka also teaches adult art classes and gives art lesson parties.Working with grown-ups is "like working with kids, but they're a little more timid," she said.Some of the school's teachers have attended her art classes and their artwork is featured in an art auction. The auction raises money for the art department."The kids absolutely love bidding on their teacher's art," Zelienka said.