Marty Meade wearing her fused glass jewelry
October to December 2012
Braun Day Treatment provides therapeutic day treatment for youth ages 5-18 who struggle with severe mental health disorders which interfere with their educational progress. This year my assignment at Braun School was more important than ever, as the cutbacks made through out California was especially hard on this small school for special needs students.
At the end of the school year a panic went up as they realized that they would have to completely eliminate art, including expressive arts. In their case, they do not have the parent body to raise funds to fill in this gap. It was a relief to know that Youth in Arts was here to provide at 20 weeks of this extremely important part of their curriculum.
My projects once again met their needs. Working with various materials to express feelings, learn about perfection issues, taking a chance to do some different things. I particularly like the marbling on paper where they work wet, do not have control of the outcome and are amazed at the results. Sugar skulls are always fun, as the discover the value of food art.
The challenge for me this year are the children that I have had for almost four years, as I am aware that I have to come up with something new. Middle School attitudes are challenging in any case, but with these students, it is even more so…. I have to keep reminding myself that when a kid is acting out, it’s when they are hurting the most…often difficult when they have pushed every button of patience that I can come up with.
In the midst of this assignment my younger brother was dying of cancer. I made several trips to Ensenada to be with him, but managed to be back in time for the classes. It stunned me at the lack of empathy that many of the kids had when I shared with them that my brother had died, The following week I was given a beautiful card with their sentiments, that touched me deeply, giving me renewed strength to keep on working with these special needs children.
Thank you Youth in Arts for the support to these children.
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Without the services Marty had provided in the Sunny Hills program I believe there would have been a lack of union and ability to appreciate the arts, She was more than just an art teacher we had once a week, She connected with the students in this program, encouraged them and showed us how therapuetic it could be to work amounst the different types of art. I love this Woman as she always provided all different forms of art, expanding the creative eye, she also took care of these students that made them comfortable and ensured with confidence. I’ll never forget every Valentine’s Day when she would read us the story of Eros and his love. She went out of way to make the expeirence of working with children of behavioral issues heartwarming. I miss you(:
Aaaah Gianna…….thank you for your kind words…..I appreciate that you understood my goal of giving you another way to express your feelings……. And I hope that you will remember to read Amor and Psyche.