Non-profit: Self-confidence in kids through art is an important service
By: Clarice Scheele
Publication: News Channel 11, Johnson City, TN
Original article
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — A decade-old non-profit, Art Transforms, works to build self-confidence in kids through art. Leaders agree the service is just as important today with the challenges children face.
Art Transforms is a day away from completing its summer camp at Mountain View Elementary School.
Elementary school students have been spending a little more than an hour each day at the school in specified classes: Clay Creators, Story Spinners, and Music Makers.
Students in the Clay Creators class start their day by decorating a name tag used to show off what they’ve made during the camp. Students like rising fourth grader Kole Smith said he wakes up excited to come to the camp every day.
“Because you get to play with clay,” Smith said.
He’s made a snake, fish, and sun out of clay, along with his creative twist on the historic Appalachian face mug. Thursday, they began painting the mugs to then be processed in the kiln.
“I made a cup with cow prints and a cow face,” said Isabella Silva, describing her Appalachian face mug.
News Channel 11 asked her why she chose a cow theme.
“Because I thought the cow prints were cute and plus I’m a cow girl,” Silva said.
These students are using art as an outlet.
“We have students coming in with their own personal issues, their own personal struggles,” Art Transforms teacher Brooke Velsor said. “And working with the clay, working with our amazing teachers, that makes a difference.”
The Story Spinners class teaches students how to interact and tell their own stories. Music Makers learn how to communicate with music.
Music Maker students made their own dulcimers and learned how to play them. They are allowed to take them home when the camp ends. Non-profit leaders said these activities help kids interact.
“They work together,” said Art Transforms founder and president Brian Mills. “How do we attach this string? They have to think. They have to communicate. And it’s a great self-esteem. And we want self-esteem for the kids.”
Art Transforms started 10 years ago because of a simple phone call. Mills received a call from a friend telling him he had a grant from an art foundation that he was allowed to give out.
“‘Is there anything you would like to do?’ And because we had done this little neighborhood clay program…I said, ‘Yeah, we can pull that off.’”
Soon, it transformed into three programs, and now the camp has been hosted at Mountain View Elementary School for the second year.
“If I’m not mistaken, [the children] come here because there are perhaps no other programs for them to go to,” Mills said. “And we’re honored to be able to come in here and give them art, because we believe art is a transformative thing in their lives, and we’re very pleased to be able to provide that.”
With every creation, students are learning skills in the program, still important 10 years after its founding.
“These kids have to look up and look at the world around them and interact with the world around them and the people around them and not with a screen as much,” Velsor said.
“We don’t want kids to be robotic and simply scrolling through their phone,” Mills said. “We want kids to be thinking and well-defined human beings.”
Friday is the last day of the camp. There will be an exhibit showcasing the kids’ work on June 25 at 1 p.m. in the cafeteria of Mountain View Elementary School. The event will be catered with food donations and is open to the community to attend. Click on the link to learn more about Art Transforms.