At the beginning of last season I was dreaming a dream of fostering the many creative talents of our amazing clients through “SYM’s Summer of Art”! We would have tools and materials at the ready in our drop-in center, and any specific desire an individual had for a project we would walk to the art store to pick up items fit for the task! Weekly prompts and varied art supplies available would create a stir on the streets and young people would flock to 4540 15th Ave to build an artistic empire, releasing all their problems and pain into beautiful masterpieces that would then auction off for hundreds of thousands of dollars each, leading to the young Picassos’ escape from the streets as well as funding the ministry that was able to open the door for them! Lives made whole, addiction eradicated, problems solved and they all lived happily ever after!
Okay, okay… I hadn’t set my expectations that high, I promise. But I did hope to help a lot of young people cope and heal and grow through artistic expression. I assumed the whole thing would be a hit. I’d seen so many of our clients’ creativity and I figured that given the space, time, and materials, nearly all would be interested in making art- especially with the potential of showing it off and maybe even profiting financially from it! I ambitiously advertised a coming art show/auction, full of our young people’s creations! Well, thanks to so many of you generously believing in the vision, all this was a real possibility! I am so grateful for the success that our Summer of Art campaign yielded. And I am not saying that it went to waste or didn’t work out- not at all! But if you’ve spent any time in the real world of this funny little planet, you understand that things don’t always go as planned. Even more so in the realm of social services.
What I’m trying to say is that at this time there will be no such art show because SYM’s “Summer of Art” has morphed into a more permanent presence of creative arts within our program, at a pace paralleled to the interest and ability of a population that often just needs to spend the hours of drop-in letting their brains and bodies rest entirely. That being said, we did get into some pretty cool artistic ventures over the summer!
We experimented with different natural dyes!
We had several days of watercoloring!
Oil paints! Spray paint! Clay!
Some creations left the building before we got pics, some are proudly hung on our walls, and one young person fixed up his leather creatively! It has been a joy exploring the arts with the ones who chose to participate. While quantity may have been less than initially anticipated, the quality time we’ve spent has been well worth it all. Thank you so much for your contributions to this endeavor! Check our social media to see what’s next, and scroll through below to see some of the stuff we’ve been up to!
Blessings on blessings on blessings,
Chelsea Araneda
Drop-In Coordinator
