Healdsburg Artist Relaunches After-School Program for Kids

Healdsburg artist Jennifer “Jendala” Utsch, known around town for her traveling cart of metal chimes, is starting up her weekly after-school kids art program “Sparkle Time” again this Valentine’s Day, after a few years off due to the COVID pandemic and her own ongoing battle with cancer. Jendala will be running the three-and-a-half-month program for 20 elementary-school kids out of her private art studio, located in that double row of buildings along Moore Lane behind City Hall. “I’m incredibly excited to announce that Sparkle Time is relaunching after a few years of hiatus,” she wrote in a letter to parents last week. “With super successful 2023 summer camps and art popups, we are ready for Winter 2024 Wednesday afterschool to commence, my favorite program of Heartizens.” (Heartizens is the nonprofit that Jendala oversees, in order to support these kinds of programs.) She says in a promo video that she wants “kids to be able to come into my art studio to express and create, collaborate and talk about emotions and values — and just really what it is that they want to create for their lives.” If you want to learn more, Jendala will be hosting a Sparkle Time open house and info session this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 444 Moore Lane. (Source: Heartizens & Jendala via YouTube & Jendala via Facebook)