When sixth-grader Jennifer Lopez started painting her self-portrait, she became frustrated, and Carly Correa, a senior art major at Loyola Marymount University, can tell you why. When most kids draw a picture of their face, they usually start with a single shade. But Jennifer used 15 different explosive colors, and the brush strokes went in crazy directions.
Correa and Jennifer have worked together in the LMU ARTsmart program for the past semester. The artwork of the ARTsmart program and the Westside Leadership Magnet School children was on display at the Thomas P. Kelly Student Art Gallery on the LMU campus earlier this month.
Every semester, 50 LMU students who are involved in ARTsmart go to the Westside Leadership Magnet School to mentor and teach children from kindergarten to middle school. Terry Lenihan, ARTsmart director, created the program in 2001 because she believes that art should be an essential part of every child’s education. Art teaches kids how to use creativity, she says, and challenges them in a way that builds confidence. Through ARTsmart, it also provides an opportunity for children and college students to interact one-on-one about life issues.
In addition to helping children with their self-portrait, LMU’s students also work on other art projects with the children. For instance, children are asked to draw themselves during a certain time in history. One student placed himself in front of the Washington Monument at President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Another drew a picture of himself watching as planes slammed into New York’s Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
Children often have self-doubt at the start of the project, but the LMU students help by encouraging them. “I just tell them we are going to do this together,” says Anna Kosoff, a graduate student of art therapy. “This is for fun. This is not a punishment. There is no right and wrong. I find it helps them if they know it’s OK to mess up.” Once the kids start, they create impressive art for any age, she says.
That experience is exactly what Carly Correa witnessed with Jennifer Lopez. “Jennifer’s frustration with her personal life is what made her self-portrait pop,” Correa says. “She couldn’t get the right color, but she kept going, she kept trying. She was sad about things going on in her life but talked through it and she kept painting,” said Correa. Correa is grateful that she learned about Jennifer’s ambitions and goals through teaching her art. “It’s a privilege to work with her on expressing herself.
