Rita Young started The Marvegos® Fine Art School in 1993, with the opening of its first studio in Saratoga.  The Fremont location opened in 1998 and plans are underway to open a third studio in San Ramon in 2007.  The Marvegos® also provides fine art programs to 8 outreach sites in Silicon Valley and serves more than 600 students annually.  With the release of Teaching Art to Children, The Marvegos®  Way by Rita Young with Joan Hong and the hiring of a manager in 2006, The Marvegos® is positioned to expand to other locales in northern California

The philosophy and teaching method of The Marvegos® approach was designed by Rita for her children and developed from a desire to nurture the creative spirit she saw in her own children, as well as the children of her friends.  Developing self-confidence to help children be the best they can be is central to The Marvegos® approach and is supported by the chief rule at The Marvegos® “NEVER WORK ON ANOTHER ARTIST’S WORK.”  The goal of The Marvegos® approach is to grow self-directed art makers.  Providing students with skills to set goals and make decisions empower students to be responsible for their own learning and  manage their own projects. 

Rita Young has been an art educator since 1992 and founded The Marvegos® Fine Art School shortly thereafter.  Rita resides in Fremont, California with her husband Rex and two Pomeranians.  Their son, Peter, graduated with a BFA in painting from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in the spring of 2007.  Their daughter, Alexis, is an actor with leading roles in two independent films, a self-directed painter, and a former theatre major at UCLA.

It is said that organizations are only as good as the people in it.  The Marvegos® has been fortunate to have a dedicated staff of artist/instructors.  Criteria used to select our instructors include a BFA in fine art studio, a portfolio showing strength in drawing and painting, an ability to communicate with children, respect for the work and abilities of children, and an ideology that matches that of The Marvegos® way of teaching art to children.

Teaching Art to Children, The Marvegos®  Way by Rita Young with Joan Hong was published in 2007.  This book provides parents and art educators with a roadmap to follow in assisting children to be self-confident, self-directed and independent art-makers…to be and express who they are in their generation.  The book is a must read for parents with children in The Marvegos® program and shows the way through a series of delightful anecdotes, pictures of students at work and colored photographs of artwork that illustrate the results of this life-altering art program.