I'm Last week was our last week of our volunteer work. Lauren, Gryphon and I went there to say our goodbyes but to also do a few tasks before we left. We took out all the chairs from the Wham on Wheels truck to put back into the building, but instead of putting them away we had to set them up for meeting that was happening that night. I did the same task I did the last time I volunteered. After setting all the chairs and tables up, we helped straighten up a few things and then we said our goodbyes to Connie and Marty and the other artists that work there. Connie gave us the opportunity to stay there and become regular volunteers over the summer and the next school year to get our community servive and recruit more teens to the art programs. At the end of our day gryphon and I interviewed Connie for our videos and took pictures around the gallery of volunteer service.
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For today, Marty did not have huge jobs for us to do, but we had a few jobs to get done. Lauren had a separate job to do while Gryphon and I had an important job to take care of. Marty and her art partners were having a mini art show for certain people to come and see. Marty had predicted about fifty or so people to come and our job was to set up everything and make it as clean and inviting as possible. We started by washing the floors and then we set up tables around the room so the artist could sit behind the tables when they discussed their art work and talked to the audience. After we cleaned the floors and set up the tables, we had to set up chairs all around the rom for the audience to sit. After doing so, Gryphon and I completed our job and went to help Lauren with her task for the few remaining minutes we had before the art gallery closed.
Instead of the usually of Lauren, Gryphon, and I going to Wham, last Saturday we went with Wham On Wheels to a community festival in Peoria. Lauren, Gryphon and I drove there around 8:30 and helped set up the tables and art supplies before any of the kids got there. It was around 9:00 when all the kids starting showing up and when the festival had opened. Because it was only little kids who came the director decided to have the kids paint something easy; which was cactus in a pot. For the younger kids they could paint or draw whatever they wanted. Us three helped the kids draw, set up many colors of paint, clean brushes, and basically watch tons of children have fun painting. Wham did this for free because they enjoy making kids happy and seeing them get involved with art. Many kids were so excited to draw what they wanted and to have their parents help them. The parents had fun too watching their children be creative. Even though most of the drawing contained scribbling. Over all it was a great experience and I can't wait to help out more with these types of classes. It was such a joy to see all these little kids get involved with art and to see how their creativity was different from every other kid. It showed me how art really connects to kids and how it can help everyone and make everyone's day by expressing their creativity.
Finally I am able to talk about another day of my service at Wham. Today, Lauren, Gryphon and I all went to Wham to do our service together. We all saw Marty and she gave us our first job. In the first leg second week of community service, Lauren and I cleaned out the supply closet. Today we cleaned the supply closet again and made it organized like it was before. We were able to help keep the supplies organized and everything neat and tighty for all the artist for when they need any materials. All the artists were greatful for our hard work and could not be happier with the neatness. However, our job did not end there. Because we worked so hard and got done earlier, Marty wanted us to clean another supply closet that was a little bit more difficult to clean. We had to organize all the table cloths on a shelf and throw out any of the broken easels. These easels were taller than us and we had to organize to fit into the small closet and make sure it did not kill anyone if someone opened the door.😂 By the end of our service hour we finished cleaning two closets with all the supplies and were able to look at their new art pieces that were displayed in the front gallery. Over all it was a good community service day!
For this week Lauren, Gryphon, and I went to Wham and instead of working with Marty, we worked with Connie who is an artists at Wham. Connie had given us a project to do since Marty was preparing for a beginner sculpting class occurring later on in the evening. Our job was to help with a small adaptive art class with only a few children. Lauren, Gryphon, and I cut out different colored hearts from poster boards for the kids to decorate the way they wanted to and to write small thank you messages to the police men and fire fighters. These hearts are going to be given to the police officers and fire fighters the week of Valentines Day. The kids wrote small thank you notes and signed there name so the men and women would know that kids appreciate all that they do.
This is one of the many projects Wham does to give back into the community. By having this project, the kids get to say thank you to the men and women who protect them and get to connect to their local heroes. Not only are the kids connecting to their local heroes, but also to society. Art therapy is used to bring people together and connect to the on going problems and situations occurring in the world. Art therapy helps bring out the people's emotions and interact with society. This project was one of the many ways art therapy is used and how it can create a positive out look. Today I was put on a easy, but time consuming job. My job was to mop, dust, and spot check the floors in the main gallery and studios, but I was not alone. I had Lauren there with me to take on the job. Marty, who is the director of Wham, assigned us the job because with being the director, she had many tasks to do and keep the art building in shape. Lauren and I started the job from the main gallery and worked our way to the back where the studios are located. There was one perk of mopping and dusting the floors; which was looking at all the fine art displayed in gallery and all over the walls by the studios. Everywhere you look there is art hanging on the wall and every piece goes with the theme. The theme for this month is "Art From The Heart" and the artist's work is displayed to be viewed and also to be sold. When we were cleaning and inspecting the floors, Lauren and I had notice all the work that was displayed was either artists that have their studios in the building or artist that come in to ask for it to be displayed. The adults work is great and all, but there was no children's work or youth's art displayed. Wham does keep some art work from their youth classes, but it seems they never display it for audiences to view. That's when Lauren had a brilliant idea.
She came up with the idea to start a small art class at the after school program at Paradise Education Center. There Lauren and I can get the full experience of teaching art to a younger audience and also help children connect to the world by using art. One of Lauren;s good friend, Jane, is an artist and teaches art to student at another school. She happily said yes to helping us with the after school idea program as she would be able to teach art to more and different students. By us creating a small art program for the PEC students, we will being helping the kids connect to art and the world, but also start bringing art programs back into the school. The students there rarely get time to take art as a class in the schedules and by this, this can bring art back into the system and hopefully start other art programs such as this to other schools. Well for today I had a similar job as I had last week. Which was to clean the main supply closet that has all the art items the members need for classes and projects. The closet has three sided with four shelves. We started on the left side of the supply closet starting from the top. The supply closet was full of materials and loose odds and ends and we ended up organizing items such as balloons, string, rulers, streamers, balloon weights, yard sticks, crayons, chalk...etc. Below those shelves were material the art center uses for the adaptive learning classes. There were materials such as soft pastels, stencils, crayons, paints, coloring books....etc. Near the bottom shelves and the floor were boxes of clay figures that could be used for painting or adaptive art classes. On the next two sides of the closet we organized frames, pictures, paint rollers, lights, posters, magazines, jars, skateboards, and cute art projects and photographs the center kept to use for display for their new theme which is "Art From The Heart." The art center keeps numerous art projects to display in their main gallery in the front of the building for everyone to see. and enjoy. For todays community service I did not do so much of helping with art projects or really connecting it with government, but as the weeks go on the projects will get bigger and make a more bigger impact on the art society.
For my first day at Wham Community Art Center I was placed on a small job. The director there wants me to start with minor jobs and work my way up to more difficult and more involving jobs. For today I had to help the center with filing receipts. I organized receipts from July of 2105 to January 2016. By me filing these receipts I am helping the center with there money arrangement and for when tax month comes up. I also helped by keeping their spending on art supplies up to date and how much the center is spending in general. My day would connect to government by the taxes. By the center getting ready for taxes and me helping them get organized they art center can pay their taxes like every other business and person in the country.
With some few minutes to spare, I was placed on another job today. My other job was to help organized their closet. Again it was a small job and not really revolving around art, but soon the jobs will get bigger. I had to organize the closet and make it look good and easy for everyone. By making it look good, it would make all the workers there easier for them to find the items they are looking for, |
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