Art Students Win Big in GTA-wide Contest
 
Vaughan Citizen, August 11, 2002

Six students at Art for Kids in Woodbridge won grand prizes in an art contest that drew more than 7,000 submissions across the GTA.  The contest encouraged children to use paints, pencil crayons, markers or crayons to express what made them feel good about themselves, such as volunteering or helping others, and was sponsored by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Services Foundation.     
"I was stunned when they called to tell me six of my students won," teacher Catherine Sgro-Bagnoli said. "They chose 100 pieces out of 7,000 and out of those 100, 20 were grand prizes."     Fifteen works of art were chosen to appear on a poster called Picture the Promise and two of Ms Sgro-Bagnoli's students had works selected for the poster, which will be distributed to libraries and institutions across Toronto.     
The contest was held in June and winners were announced in early July.

Ms Sgro-Bagnoli said the organizer of the contest was so impressed with Art for Kids students that she was going to have a separate contest just for the 58 children.     "Fifteen of the works will be put on a poster that will come out in September," she said. "The posters will be about why you should say no to drugs."     Ms Sgro-Bagnoli has been teaching art for eight years and has a studio attached to her house for the children. She teaches four to five classes a week and has more than 60 students.     "About 80 per cent of my students are sent from teachers who tell them they should be in an art program," she said. "A lot of kids only learn arts and crafts - working with paper, scissors and glue in school. Here they learn how to draw, shade, use watercolours and the pencil properly."     "The most rewarding part for me as a teacher is seeing the look on their faces when they say, 'Wow! I can't believe I did that' and seeing their parents' reactions, too."

 

Young Artists Display Their Talents
at Millenium Artworks
  
The Liberal, November 30, 2000

 Gifted youngsters, seven to 18 years old, from artist Catherine Sgro's Art Classes for Kids will have their day in the spotlight Saturday when their paintings go on display at Galleria Adonis in Woodbridge.     Sgro's works will also be on display. 'There will be five awards of $100 savings bonds to go to five Artists of the Year.'     Entitled Millennium Artworks Exhibit & Competition 2000, the first show at 6 p.m. is already sold out (350 tickets sold), but the general public is welcome to attend a second show at 8 p.m.     The later show will feature the release of Sgro's six new limited editions on canvas.     The students' work will remain in the gallery for viewing during Sgro's show. They will each be exhibiting two pieces of their artwork using art media such as pen and ink, prisma colour, acrylic and watercolour.    
 "People will be amazed at the work some of my students can do," said Sgro.

 During the evening, the students will compete for prizes donated by many art-related companies.     Students will be eligible for trophies. Palma Pallante, chairperson of the City of Vaughan Arts and Culture Committee, will present the awards.     Sgro's Art Classes for Kids is a private school located in her home in Woodbridge with 70 students.     She is a graphic designer and has had seven pieces published.     Her prints are available in galleries and stores across Canada and the United States.

Art Students Display Their Best
 
 The Liberal, December 14, 1997

 The young art students of Woodbridge's Catherine Sgro Bagnoli were given a chance to strut their stuff at a special show on Friday, Nov. 21 at the Woodbridge Memorial Arena.     Sgro Bagnoli started teaching art to children from her home three years ago after leaving her job as a graphic designer in Toronto. She had just given birth to her son, Ottavio, and wanted to spend more time at home with him.     She had always wanted to teach, so she was thrilled when the City of Vaughan hired her to teach a couple of part-time adult art classes at the West Vaughan Community Centre.     "Parents started saying 'I've got kids who would love to do this, too'," she said.     So she decided to start her own art school for children from her house, where she could still stay with her children and continue to do what she loved - teaching.     "The best part is seeing their faces when they can't believe what they've done," she said.     She started off teaching just four or five students after school, but now she teaches 32 in total.     She restricts her classes to students who have a special talent that may not be nurtured in a regular art class at school. She gets them drawing and painting with media such as pen and ink, watercolor and prismacolor pencils - "real artists' materials", she said.

 "A lot of my students have teachers who told their parents 'you really should get your child into art'."     She also makes sure her students truly love art. "It doesn't work if they don't want to be there," she said.     In this year's show, titled Artists Strutting Their Stuff, every one of Sgro Bagnoli's students had the experience of displaying some of his or her work in a public setting.     Sgro Bagnoli made an award presentation at the end, including six "artist of the year" designations in five age categories.     For the category of Grade 1 and 2, the winner was Gianfranco Catalfo. In the Grade 3 and 4 category, Daniel Petrovic won. For Grade 5, the winner was Laura Canale and the Grade 6 winner was Stephanie Carrera. In grades 7, 8 and 9, there was a tie between Michael Jokobczak and John Galiano.