This past Monday we finished up our project with the PACE Center for Girls. This is a project that we undertook as part of our Beyond Words show where we wanted to engage in some type of community outreach with the emphasis on girls and creativity. We will have one final field trip day with the girls next week where they will come to visit the show at the Casselberry Art House and hang their own words on Myrtle, our PoeTree. This experience with the girls has been amazing! In the beginning, we didn't know what to expect. I mean we are OLDER, and these are teenage girls after all. At the first visit, we could feel the tentative curiosity. We shared a little about ourselves and the importance of art and writing. The second visit, we were greeted with girls who were happy to see us back! We worked on our journals using collage on the covers to create a special place for their expressions and to gather words and images. By the third visit, we saw these beautiful souls open up. We discussed and worked on "I Am" poems. Positive descriptive words were flying around the room! Sassy, creative, observant, funny, daredevil, confident, strong, patient, and gentle. And I believe I can say that the Poets & Painters were collectively BLOWN AWAY by their words...by their bravery.
We all were ignited and inspired and lifted.
By the end of this third visit, they let us know that we will be missed.
I hope they take a little bit of this experience with them as they continue to grow.
I know each of us will.
Oh, Shari, you really captured our experience so well! Talk about being schooled...these young women taught us elders a thing or two.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great project. The gift of presence. Listening. The power of words. Honesty. Risk taking. Poetry...the sharing of intensity and feeling. Thank you.
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