How do young people draw, paint and create artwork that brings a difficult concept such as "system of care" alive? This, of course, requires a great deal of thinking, planning, ingenuity, creativity and team work, and students from several participating schools got it!
To begin, the whole process requires a lot of discussion with the students around different "caring" scenarios and about "system." The students then put in their ideas and sketches of individual artwork pieces and then, working as a team, they collectively plan the layout of all the individual art sketches on a 4-foot by 8-foot canvas, which is divided into three panels.
The next big task is transferring the sketches to the canvas, fine-tuning it, and then the exciting part is to begin painting.
"System of care through the eyes of children" is a special art project which I Famagu'on-ta, of the Child Adolescent Services Division of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, through a grant from the Guam Council of the Arts and Humanities Agency, has been working on with several art teachers.
Talofofo Elementary School was one of the first schools to showcase its completed art mural at a school meeting last month. Other participating schools are Truman Elementary and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School. The artwork will be exhibited at the CAHA Gallery in Hagåtña during December for public viewing.
This project of the students, under the astute guidance and encouragement of their art teachers, after many long hours after school and on Saturdays to get the artwork completed, resulted in five large, creatively detailed, and beautiful works of art about life events that all come together to portray what a Guam system of care is, through the eyes of children. Thank you to the parents for supporting your children in working on this project after school hours and on Saturdays.
Not only was beautiful artwork produced, but the time spent together created a positive teamwork experience and bonding among the students and their teachers. As one teacher commented, "Parting from their artwork was a bit difficult and sad to do, like letting go of a child."
The parents, teachers and guests who have seen the artwork were pleasantly surprised at the tremendous artistic talents of the students. You would be, too. Some parents didn't realize their children could create such beautiful artwork and were quite amazed and proud of their children.
We want the public also to be proud of the work of our young people. We invite you to come and see the art exhibit at the Guam Council of the Arts and Humanities Gallery, located on the second floor of the Terlaje building in Hagåtña, across from the Guam Legislature. The artwork exhibit will open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday from Dec. 5 to Jan 4.
We encourage parents to make this a nice outing with your children during the Christmas season. Come and enjoy!
Annie F.B. Unpingco, LCSW, is administrator of Child Adolescent Services Division/I Famagu'on-ta at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
