By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — Roshini Nasta held a small video camera in front of her at the Seaport's Van Der Plas Gallery recently and panned the collection of colorful artwork on the walls, some of which will soon sell for thousands of dollars.
"Here we are at Kiran's first art gallery opening," Nasta, 39, a Financial District resident, intoned proudly as the camera recorded the scene.
Kiran, the budding artist, asked for an apple juice box.
The 3-year-old Financial District resident is one of more than 100 Claremont Preparatory School students whose artwork is on display at the Van Der Plas Gallery on Pier 17 this week. On April 28, the pieces will be auctioned off at a Claremont benefit, to support the school's scholarship and teacher enrichment programs.
"It's a really great idea," Nasta said of the exhibit. "It's inspired me to think about what [Kiran] may become in the future."
Kiran, straw reluctantly removed from his mouth, had just one word for seeing his self-portrait on display in a real gallery: "Good!"
While some of the artwork is clearly made by children, other pieces, like the large Jackson Pollock-style splatter-paint canvases, could easily be the work of grown-up artists. The second graders made the tri-color Pollock paintings as group projects after studying abstract expressionism and taking a trip to MoMA, one parent said.
The pieces have no minimum bid but usually end up selling for at least $600 and sometimes for more than $3,000, said Gary Schwartz, head of Claremont's Visual Arts Department.
"It's fantastic," Schwartz said. "It shows the kids that there's an actual art world out there. They're thrilled when they see their work exhibited."
While some of the auctioned artwork is original, other pieces are just prints, so that students can keep their masterpieces, Schwartz said.
Lillie Steen, 10, a Claremont fourth grader from the Meatpacking District, quickly found her self-portrait at the show's opening reception Wednesday afternoon. The portrait, which took her a month to execute, bears a good likeness and has a tropical beach background.
Asked what she thought of her art-gallery debut, Steen smiled and said, "I feel important."
The Claremont Prep show will remain on display at the Van Der Plas Gallery on the second floor of the Pier 17 mall through April 17. The pieces will be auctioned off at Claremont's Spring Benefit April 28.
