Serving kids with my art
What an intense year this has been.
We’re all feeling it. But it’s times like these that really push us out of our comfort zone and give us new opportunities for growth. As hard as it’s been, this year has proven to be one of the most special years of my life.
I’m a visual artist/muralist and have been working with Plenitud PR since 2017 - beautifying and painting educational murals around the farm, teaching art workshops to students in Las Marías, and collaborating to create what we call Eco-Creative Spaces in schools: a way for agroecology and art to come together.
When school was about to start up again, Plenitud PR took on the project of creating lesson plans for 178 students from 3 different schools in Las Marías and Maricao. Can you imagine being a child and having to take classes online? I’m sure a lot of you are first-hand witnesses to this dynamic - kids stuck at home, on screens all day, with no real creative stimulation or social interaction.
In response, Plenitud PR came up with the idea of arranging and distributing agriculture and art kits along with interactive tutorial videos to spice up students’ online classes.
“What a cool way to serve the community of Las Marías!”
This inspired me to join and serve these kids through my art. I’ve always been kind of afraid of being in front of a camera, but I knew kids needed art and creativity more than ever. I’ll do it, I thought. I’ll be their online art teacher! So the Plenitud PR video team and I created a semester curriculum, wrote some fun educational scripts, shot and edited and sent out the video to the kids.
“I’ll do it, I thought. I’ll be their online art teacher! ”
It was a truly fun process because I got to access my inner child to make these videos. We bought supplies for all the kids (color pencils, paint, brushes, paper, canvas, etc.) so that they had everything they needed to participate in each art workshop. The goal of the classes was to teach the students the importance of creativity, and how to create your own mural from start to finish.
Part of the mission was also to paint a mural at two of the schools. In one of the workshops, I ask the kids to help me with ideas for the mural. I took all those ideas they sent me and put them together to make the design.
Check the FINAL mural design in this video:
I went down to Las Marías during the week of Thanksgiving to paint the mural we all designed. Initially I had hoped that some of the students could come and help with the installation, but due to tightened COVID-19 restrictions locally, that wasn't possible. I was disappointed that the kids couldn't be part of the process, but to my surprise, several teachers and even a janitor stepped in to help with great enthusiasm! And it’s funny, it seemed like the teachers needed the art therapy just as much as the kids! Some of them were there for almost the entire process, which is so wonderful because through this they were able to transmit the experience to their students.
“Several times a day, parents drove by with their kids to come see the progress and cheer out the window!”
Several times a day, parents drove by with their kids to come see the progress and cheer out the window! It was a beautiful week - I got to share lots of great conversations with these teachers and receive more insight on life in Las Marías. I also realized how important Plenitud PR’s work is. A lot of these kids have never even taken an art class before let alone completed a creative large scale project.
I didn't get to spend much time with the kids face to face, which was unfortunate.
When making the art videos or holding a live workshop with the kids, I felt like I was mostly speaking to myself while holding the mission in mind - almost like speaking to my inner child. But then they would send me pictures of their finished assignments with their big, proud grins - and this made it all worth it.
