Art Class

So my parents are here today and my mother had a fascinating time working with Sandy Conley (one of my supervisors). Sandy is working with some of the students and is teaching an art class. Sandy is a professional artist and she has been coming down here for a long time. She’s developed a very successful art program, and has even mentored a local artist. Sandy was teaching an art class today and my mother oversaw. Art in the US is something that every child under the age of six has mastered; any home with smaller children has their artwork gracing almost every flat surface of the home. In Haiti this is a different story, people can’t really afford art supplies for their children.

Sandy’s class today had about twelve kids in it, all above the age of ten. Sandy was teaching them how to draw a still life, i.e. you look at a picture or at a scene and draw it. Sandy had nice flowers for the kids to draw and Roland, our trusted interpreter, interpreted Sandy’s lesson for the kids. Though Sandy’s instructions were quite clear, the children didn’t know how to draw. Now I am a terrible artist, but at age twelve I understood how to draw a vase with flowers in it; we all did because we all spent hours upon hours when we were kids drawing whatever was around us and then put it on our parents refrigerators. The Haitians however have never drawn, so this was a totally new experience to them. This displays a depressing deficit in Haitian life. Though very few American children continue their art careers past the second grade, drawing helps us as children develop an imagination and a better understanding of the world around us. Haitians grow up without their surroundings ever being translated onto a piece of paper.

Fortunately however, this is not the end of the story. The children in the art class listened closely to Sandy, asked her questions, and figured out how to draw. They worked hard, made mistakes, and pushed through until they could produce a nice picture. Sandy is going to continue teaching art, and each day the kids are going to get better, and by the end of the week these twelve Haitian students will get the experience we got as American kids. The Haitians in La Croix may not be blessed with the material resources we in America have, but they are blessed with a work ethic second to none. The Haitians who I have worked with, both as professionals and as students have been some of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. Though they don’t have art classes as children, they take advantage of the opportunity when they see it.

One of the boys Sandy has been tutoring for some time is a boy named Jimmy. Jimmy is a really nice Haitian student who lives about a half mile from the mission. He goes to school during the day but finds time to paint in the afternoon and during his time off. Jimmy is a really nice boy, and the walls of his home are covered with his art work. He paints in a Haitian style, depicting much of the scenery around him in a very colorful light. Jimmy also paints pictures of iconic figures, including President Michelle Martelly, Past President Rene Preval, St Augistine, and Rick Ross. I bought one of Jimmy’s paintings last week. It was a nice painting of a near by river. It was $10, and all of it went to Jimmy. Jimmy has developed a nice small side business painting pictures of La Croix and he sells them around the community, his best customers are the American volunteers who come down and volunteer at the mission. We are hoping that we can contract him to do some work around the mission. Jimmy may not ever become a professional artist, but with Sandy’s help and his dedication he’s been able to develop a small side business that throws off a little side cash that might help in tough times or provide some needed entertainment on a rainy day. Jimmy never grew up drawing but he took advantage of Sandy’s help and has been able to make a better life for he and his famil