Maritza's Art Project

In previous posts, I have mentioned my friend Maritza, who is Panamanian but spent most of her life in the US. She is an artist, has energy for twelve, and is enormously creative. She was my Spanish teacher for about four months, and I often referred to her as the "best teacher I have ever had." She gave up teaching to start an art project in one of the local elementary schools.

None of the schools in El Valle teach art. Maritza approached the Minister of Education and the officials in this one particular school, and described her program: a elective weekly project to teach the kids about the great masters, some drawing and painting fundamentals, with presentations by visiting artists. The program was approved, parents gave their approval, and we signed up 103 kids! I say "we" because Maritza enlisted her friends as volunteers to help out.

I was the first guest artist, and described the process of making a stained glass item, as well as showing some of my pieces. The yellow VW is always a crowd pleaser. I also had the kids apply copper foil to a glass bobble, and they got to keep the bobble. Christine, who makes paper from local plants, was a big hit, as was Harry who is a designer (mostly furniture). He brought three or four of his chairs and sofas, which had been scaled to child size. Franco described the process of making cement sculptures, and Shirley and Jackie gave painting lessons. In our last session, George Scribner, a Disney animator, enthralled the kids. He first painted Dumbo and then taught the kids how to draw Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and figures with movements. He was terrific and had the kids completely engaged.

Panama was host to an exhibition of Rembrandt etchings. The kids studied Rembrandt for several weeks. The ones who had the best Rembrandt portfolio (essay, drawings, creative coloring) were selected to go to the exhibition. (Keep in mind that many of these kids had never seen the ocean, let alone been to Panama City and a museum.) Although the school had a bus which would transport the kids, there was no budget for the diesel, the driver, the lunches, etc. etc. So, we quickly did some fund raising in El Valle, and had a great response. We left El Valle at 6:30 am on a Saturday morning (ugh), and were first in line for a tour through the museum. The museum tour guides said that these kids were the best ever in the museum. For the most part, they were speechless. After the museum, they went to the mall for lunch and some playing on the bumper cars. The bus got back to El Valle about 5; it was a spectacular day.

One project, prompted by a visiting mural artist from the States, was a mural for the "auditorium" at the school. Kids in the art project designed the mural, which was executed by several high school kids under the direction of Mark Nelson, the visiting mural artist.

The project will continue through the end of October. I am so grateful to be involved with this project. The kids are so good, and just lapping up all this stuff. They get a kick out of me and my laugh, and giggle shyly when they say "Thank you" to me in Engish. And I love it, when I am riding my bike around town, one of them sees me and waves excitedly.