Week 7: Art And Understanding

Welcome back, everyone! It was another amazing week with the students at BASIS and RHAP so let’s get right into it!

At BASIS I learned a lot about my students from a different perspective during their classes on Monday. Both the 4th and 2nd graders were doing Keith Haring-inspired pieces where they had to convey an important message through his street/cartoony style. Ms.Weathers and I did not give them themes to choose from; we just let them figure out what was important to them and they drew it. Their pieces surpassed my expectations as they were far more current, introspective, and complex than I thought they would be. Many made their Keith Haring doodles have human skin tones of different varieties to talk about equality and celebrating the beauty of different races. Other students drew same-sex couples and wrote about themes like love is love. Other students drew their country’s flags or had their doodle people be in the military. They were all super personal to the students’ lives. This showed me how art-making not only helps kids with emotional regulation but also helps them with feeling comfortable with themselves and learn how to uplift each other. Watching them create and discuss their creations helped certain students process their identities and learn about their classmates. During their gallery walkthrough, the students really celebrated their differences and their varied interests which was beautiful to observe.

At RHAP the students drew portraits of each other in colors that are not skin tones but in one color of how the person feels. This was cool to see how they perceive each other, and how they could work to help each other with their emotions.

This week I will be meeting with an art therapist to get more information on how art-making can be used as a tool. Parent surveys were sent out last week and responses have been flooding in! It is amazing to see how the parents view arts’ impact on their children.