Bringing art to the kids
Most grade school students in the Switzerland of Ohio Local School District are limited in their options for artist expression – those that are provided at school anyway.Without any traditional art classes being offered, many of these students aren’t exposed to pottery or painting or sculpture.Monroe Central senior Abigail Kinney recognized that Monroe County kids today aren’t getting the same opportunity others get – so she decided to do something about it.Kinney teamed up with Laurie Collert, a regular substitute teacher in the district, and the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio (FAO) to create a summer art program for area children.The program Kinney and Collert created was Art for the Heart, a weeklong effort for up to 20 district students in Grades 4-8.Each afternoon from Monday, July 8 through Friday, July 12 at Creative Expressions Gift Shop, several young students were able to experience a variety of mediums they were normally not exposed to, including basket weaving, creating with yarn and dowels and grouting and design.According to Collert, in order to fulfill the grant requirements from the FAO and it’s I’m a Child of Appalachia grant-funding partner, the project must be directed by an area youth, which left Kinney leading the program and selecting which art projects to offer.Kinney selected a few projects that appealed to her and, she hoped, the children as well.
