Mason District is blessed with many talented artists – musicians, dancers, actors, sculptors, poets, authors, painters, watercolorists, fabric artists, and everything in between. Of special interest are the young artists, just discovering art, balance, and design, and probably just learning to hold a brush. That’s why the current Art in the Mason District Governmental Center exhibit is so intriguing. The artists are elementary school-age students of Rita Duck McCarn of Sleepy Hollow Arts in Falls Church. Rita’s works also are on display at my office.

Fifteen student artworks are displayed in the “Entrance Gallery,” which was the focus for Friday night’s reception for the artists and their parents. Rita McCarn notes that Sleepy Hollow Arts classes focus on design, balance, and color, with a variety of drawing and painting techniques. Some lessons feature prominent artists throughout history, reflected in the student compositions “after Van Gogh,” “after Matisse,” “after Picasso.”

“Leaping Bunny (After Matisse)” features an orange tempera paint rabbit on a two-tone bright blue background, and has a lively lilt to it. Six-year-old artist Julia Tredeau told me that she likes bunnies, which inspired her to paint one. In contrast, “Still Life with Bowl, Cat, and Fish,” a pencil sketch by Tony Delgado, age 8, is very detailed. Tony’s pencil technique is precise and comprehensive. You have to spend a little time with his sketch to catch all the nuances.

Nadia Burns is an 8-year-old collage artist. Her display, “Spanish Guitars #2 (After Picasso),” features cut paper, paint, and pencil. If you look closely, you can see that Nadia used an interesting technique to denote the strings on one guitar. The purple tempera paint denotes four strings, made by drawing a tool (the point of the paintbrush handle, perhaps?) carefully through the wet paint. On another wall, Trent Bailey, who is 9, presents a traditional acrylic on canvas “Mountain Reflection,” which reminds me of either Mount Rainier or Mount Hood in the Cascades of the Pacific Northwest. The snow-covered mountain contrasts with the deep blue of the lake, and you almost can feel the cool mountain air wafting through the hallway. The exhibit continues through late February.

Fairfax County’s 12th Urban County Board of Supervisors was sworn in on Tuesday night in the forum of the Fairfax County Government Center. All 10 incumbents on the board were re-elected in November, and were joined in the swearing-in by Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh, and the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District Board members. Circuit Court Judge Jan Brodie, formerly a Fairfax County Deputy County Attorney, administered the oath of office to each elected official. The new term begins on January 1, 2012.

Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be e-mailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov