Art Group: From the Children's Perspective - The District Alliance for Safe Housing

Every week Beth and Anne Marie, two of our outstanding and dedicated volunteers from the Red Derby, have been teaching an Art Class to the kids of DASH. The class is a huge favorite among the children; they love the teachers, the fun projects and the chance to unleash their creativity.

Alice*says that she appreciates the class because of the positive encouragement that she gets: “I can’t draw, but they always tell me I can. Even when I mess up they’re like, ‘oh that’s sooo good!’”(It should be noted that Alice is in fact an amazing artist who last week used feathers and glitter to create a wacky, unique mask.)

Alice also talked about how different and fun the projects are every week, “I didn’t do any of this in art class last year.” The art projects are unique in part because the teachers are both artists and graduates of Corcoran College of Art and Design. This is not an art class where you simply color inside the lines. Instead, the kids get to express themselves through truly amazing projects, from painting bricks to making stop gap animation. Alonso’s* favorite project was the “me collage” in which all the children got to make collages that represented who they are as people. This was his favorite project in part because he got to work with Ms. Beth and, as he explained, “Ms. Beth is awesome.”

Emma Kupferman, DASH’s Children’s Program Director sums up why she loves Art Group, “Anne Marie and Beth have created an amazing opportunity for DASH kiddos to have fun, learn about art and express themselves creatively. The beauty of Art Group is twofold; children are learning how to use melted wax to make a print, create a papier mache masks and tell the world who they are through collage while having a positive outlet for all of the emotions that come from surviving domestic violence including hurt, anger, confusion and fear.”