Afterschool program in Ward 7 proves positive connection between art therapy and economic, social success

This article is very inspiring. It is exciting to see how powerful and life changing art therapy can be!

art of simplicity

By Nicole Lafond

Editor

An afterschool arts program in a struggling D.C. neighborhood recently helped African American boys and young men develop goals for their future, as a part of the program’s adolescent art project.

As a component of an art education series, NPR published a piece this week about the afterschool program, Life Pieces to Masterpieces, an art program for boys and young men in the Ward 7 neighborhood.

This program strives to give boys and young men living in the area a safe place to go after school to express themselves and form positive, mentored relationships, NPR reported. Life Pieces to Masterpieces teaches boys and young men in the program values through “The four C’s,” which are Connect, Create, Contribute and Celebrate. Program participants are called apprentices.

The program was strategically established in a struggling neighborhood in D.C., Ward 7.

According to the organization “Ward…

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From My Smashbook: April Inspiration

creativity in motion

Thanks to Artsyville’s Glue It Tuesday and the revival of a local Saturday art-making get together I enjoy attending, my smashbook has been filling up with lots of the things I love to stick, collage, and glue down during the month of April:

Here I’ve used magazine photo images sent by Lani in 2013’s Creative Pay It Forward, pages from a vintage Reader’s Digest book I discovered, dictionary pages, and other collage bits & pieces I’ve been collecting.  Looking for to this week’s Glue It Tuesday’s fun!

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Bernhard Fuchs – Roads and Paths

Life is a journey and I’m continuously discovering new paths to follow. I found these photographs very inspiring.

PhotoBook Journal

Copyright Bernhard Fuchs 2009 published by Koenig Books

In Bernhard Fuchs Roads and Paths, the vacant roads and byways of a rural region of Austria create lyrical metaphors for various aspects of life’s journey. Fuchs creates a sense of ambiguity at the moment of exposure; whereas the viewer is not certain if they are looking at the future of the journey to come or in the past, of the journey taken.

The photographs are metaphors for the journeys of one’s life, the seasonality, as well as the ups and downs. For me, the photographs of this book were at first perhaps a little too much of a cliché for this metaphor, thus it was necessary for me set it aside for a long while before the inclination to pick it up again for a deeper inspection.

The photographs are imbued with a type of light that portrays a sense…

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