SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Lou Garard, adjunct instructor in the school of art, discusses "Wildcat Art's" current project with junior Emily Ralph, left, and seniors Marcy Saoud and Justine Hernandez, all art education majors. "Wildcat Art" was created to give children an opportunity to learn about art - and to give college art students a chance to share their knowledge.

Early mornings are not something most students typically look forward to.

But students taking Art Education 338L, known in the department as "Wildcat Art," must wake up as early as 6:30 every Saturday morning beginning March 2.

Their mission? To teach art lessons to children via the laboratory classroom the department operates every spring.

For this and other reasons, students have a definite love/hate relationship with Wildcat Art. The classwork traditionally proves challenging to many students, as does the intense group cooperation the class requires.

Art education graduate student Letica Pinero said she took the class last semester.

"I think that for me, the most difficult part of Wildcat Art was to create what I felt were meaningful lesson plans with the materials that were available to us," Pinero said in an e-mail.

Art education senior Lee Street took the class with Pinero, and found it offered other challenges. However, Street said the class was ultimately fulfilling.

"The whole experience was trial-by-fire, but in the end, I came out of the program with a great portfolio of lessons and practical, hands-on knowledge that you just can't get in a traditional classroom," he said. "Just learning to work together as a group was a challenge, but once we started working together as a group and everyone started to realize what each other's strengths and weaknesses were, it started to really flow."

Parents pay $90 for their children to attend these classes, which are intended to be fun, exciting and well-supervised, with a low student-teacher ratio and lots of personal attention. The program concludes with a public exhibition of student work in the Joseph Gross Gallery May 11.

Another challenge of the class is that college students must teach a variety of different topics to children of varying ages. This year's themes involve art around the world, art in history and an exploration of media.

For example, students in kindergarten through second grade will learn the art of the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands, completing a variety of activities along the way.

Those enrolled in grades 3-5 will travel through time, stopping to explore art of prehistory, early civilizations and medieval times, and finally ending up in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Students in grades 6-12 will learn various art media, experimenting with a variety of techniques and materials such as clay, paint, printmaking, mixed media and sculpture.

"The lessons are designed to teach comprehensive skills and knowledge that will transfer into many areas of a student's art life and beyond," Wildcat Art Director Lou Gerard said in a press release. "Wildcat Art is a safe and fun environment for kids to grow and be nurtured in the visual arts."

For more information about Wildcat Art or how to enroll children in the program, call 621-1613. Some scholarships are available to families in need.