Students seek to change island through art
Published: July 29, 2011
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Ja'Teya Hunter, 11, right, paints the hands of Eric Mintas and Jahsean Ponce.
ST. CROIX
More than 100 young Crucians participated in an art program on St. Croix this summer while dealing with the island's most pressing issues.
The youngsters, ages 4 to 18, participated in the SmART Summer Youth Institute at three different locations to create artwork that increases awareness and depicts strategies for change on the island.
Michelle Faulkner and Nora Howell, who both graduated from the Maryland College of Art in Baltimore recently, helped lead the program at Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in Frederiksted, at Mon Bijou Community Center and the University of the Virgin Islands Upward Bound program on St. Croix.
The program, which was founded and co-ordinated by Cynthia Hatfield, exists to increase cultural exchange, development and art advocacy among the people of St. Croix, Howell said in a press release.
The young participants in the art-based workshops engage in variety of creative means to express their ideas and their cultural heritage by using visual and language arts, Howell said.
Howell, who led the students at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts during two, two-week sessions, said the students used graphic design, fashion design, clay and individual art projects to express their ideas about what they would change on the island to make it a better place. Issues they identified in their works included gun violence, domestic violence, animal cruelty and littering, she said.
"For many of them, it was a positive experience to talk about what they wanted to change about the island and how you can bring about change," Howell said, while working with the students on Thursday.
Faulkner, who worked with students at UVI and at Mon Bijou Community Center, said she used arts based on identity, cultural and community to teach the youngsters to infuse art into their lives. Many students don't have much opportunity to express themselves visually because art education is disappearing from public schools, she said.
The students also used art to respond to a recent death in their community by creating "Stop the Violence" posters, which they placed around the neighborhood, she said.
The youths' artwork from all participating locations will be on display at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts at No. 10 Strand Street in Frederiksted from 1 to 4 p.m. Aug. 6. The art exhibit also will include musical performances.
"We hope that a lot of people can come out to see what they did," Howell said.
- Contact Cristian Simescu at 774-8772 ext. 459 or email simescu@dailynews.vi.
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