Artaware's Blog

No words necessary – this is Art Aware’s message…

I might do a write-in ballot for the 2016 presidential election for a man who wouldn’t want the job but has the experience to do it right.

He knows how to manage a budget and spent twenty years writing a biography of a Michigan senator-turned international diplomat which the University of Chicago Press will publish in 2017.

He recently was in the news because he helped an eighty-six year old woman get home who had locked the keys in her car, then mixed up the last two digits of the phone number unable to reach her daughter for help.

He’s in a position of authority that serves millions of people their basic human needs and serves their spiritual needs through the arts. He touches individuals and the multitudes.

I am one of those individuals – at seventy-seven years old, who may soon unintentionally lock her keys in the car and reach out to a caring person for help.  I have confidence someone will be there

because of this man for whom I’ll do a write-in ballot. His leadership extends across the country and, for-all-I-know, around the world. He has authority and influence that hasn’t “gone to his head.”

I live in a city, Camden, N.J., that needs enlightened leadership. In 2015 President Obama visited us. He raised hopes for the future, appearing in a Salvation Army Center that was funded  by Joan Kroc in 2003.

In 2015, the Grand Rapids Kroc Center and Salvation Army were supported by this man for whom I’m submitting a write-in ballot. He has the gentle touch for us commoners and the smarts for the elites.

He knows that isolationism by country, by economic status, by race, by education, by religion, will not work for a sustainable world, for individuals or for the multitudes.

I know the next POTUS will not be elected by write-in ballots. But we still have time, perhaps through social media to call out those saints – and sinners – so that those us “in between” can make a difference.

  One class of 10 to 20 sixth graders at Cramer Elementary School in Camden under Fayze Watkins’ tutelage creating this Frog. Isn’t it amazing! So integrated. So beautiful. If only adults could work as well together…but we would need this art teacher’s guidance.

 Next is the fifth graders’ frog, followed by a close-up picture of the detail.

And the fourth grade with details. And third, second and first graders’ work.

All these original group art pieces are on exhibit at the Ferry Avenue Library.

Check out Kevin Riordan’s article in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/kevin_riordan/20151231_Foster_grandparents_nurture_preschoolers.html

Murasaki’s Kitten, Beebee

A hard beginning.
Mom hit by a car – paralyzed hind quarters.
Kids come to my house
“Can you help? She’s trying to get to her kitten.”

I bring Mom and day-old kitten home
thinking it will be their last day alive
but Mom ate well and nursed baby

Mom was not in pain.
No euthenasia necessary.
Fifteen years later, Mom died.

A wonderful Mum, who didn’t act disabled.
She was “Murasaki” who gracefully swished her body
like the famous 12th century Japanese woman writer did her kimono.

Seventeen years later, yesterday morning,
that kitten, Beebee, died.
My house is not the same.

I see her spirit eveywhere.
Last night I felt her purring beside me,
but she wasn’t there.

Our last days together were almost the best
because I paid so much attention to her
and she responded in kind

I wanted her to live forever
and I think she wanted to.
At the end she followed me around

like a little puppy dog
and I slowed my gait
to accommodate her.

She wasn’t eating so
I experimented with different expensive foods
she might like.

I googled old-age feline remedies.
She lasted three whole months after her first seizure
and finally gave up the ship on December 23rd, 2015.

I owe her so much.
I hope, when it becomes my time
I can die as gracefully.

In October, 2011, at an old age, I had one of the peak experiences of my life:  seeing a toddler absolutely ecstatic at seeing me – a big smile on her lunch-smeared face, arms and legs flailing, from the chair in a high, round table shared with five other toddlers. Apparently, we had bonded. I had never before, in my seven decades, had anyone respond to me with such glee! And so based on that experience, my life aim has turned into trying to give, and take, GLEE, to and from, anyone I’m privileged to meet: the very young, the very old and anyone in-between.

In Romare Bearden’s book “Li’l Dan: the Drummer Boy”, he captures glee and awe in his line drawing. At Martin Luther King Day Care Center, I photograph toddlers inside and outside a crib. At ELRA (Early Learning Research Academy) I am gleeful at seeing a child sleeping – bottoms-up and toddlers succeeding at balancing blocks when they can barely balance themselves, and a toddler examining a pink alien.

At Lower Leap Academy, I’m joyful at attending a Gala at the Curtis Building in which student artwork is sold to those parents and friends of “in between age.”

And then there’s Artsonia.com, where we display and sell kids’ art.

And then there is the whole Internet which brings together the young, the old, the in between and all of nature.

Please don’t call me Grandma. I haven’t earned it. I never had a biological child, so I never had a biological grandchild. That’s why I love being a Grandmother in the Foster Grandparent (FG) program. It puts me in touch with little ones. But I don’t want to be called Grandma. I have a name, Ms. Barbara, and grew to a ripe old age outside of being a parent or grandparent, until now.

And what a joy it is (the name notwithstanding). In September, 2011 I walked into the Martin Luther King Day Care Center and met veteran Foster Grandparent, Ms. Lucille, who taught me the ropes. How to feed, entertain, put to sleep, burp babies and allow them discoveries on their own, without harm etc.

The Day Care teachers also guided me, especially Ms. Aida and Ms. Di.  Ms. Aida taught our two-year olds “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in Spanish, Ms. Di in English, and I did so in Japanese (having lived and taught children in Tokyo for three years). We delighted in the kids’ delight at learning new sounds and body movements. The only thing we didn’t do was change diapers. That is not allowed in the FG bylaws – thankfully, because with six babies in the room that would be a full time job.

At Early Learning Research Academy (ELRA) teachers Ms. Brittany and Ms. Caithlyne led me to more interactions with little ones and their parents. At ELRA and Leap Academy it is possible for a child to go from the infant room on up through high school. A great gift of stability in social interaction and education for children in Camden.

Foster Grandparents can give one-on-one attention to children in the classrooms in which they’re placed and, not having to be in charge, have the luxury of being able to observe the tiniest details of change (without having to document it).

In classes of three, four and five-year olds, I took photos of the 18″x 22″ acrylic paintings each child did on his or her own without prompting from a teacher. The child could tell the teachers when they were finished. Every month each child produced a large colorful painting which was hung in the classroom. They learned and felt early on, the values of self expression. I truly believe we would have a more peaceful world if all people could have such creative experiences in their youth. (http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?project=902227)

The proof is in the pudding. Look at the first graders’ mural “Exploring Lines” initiated by art teacher Nina Speart. Many went to ELRA pre-K. Visually the whole class’s individual work comes together as a whole. It’s important for parents to support their child’s artwork and to display it in the home. They can further encourage the child by going online, looking at and discussing the whole class’s work in terms of color, fun, action, line, etc.  (www.artsonia.com – go to Camden, NJ, ELRA and/or Leap Academy).

In my life as a teacher and Director of Art Aware, I knew about art, but my four years as a Foster Grandparent and taking photos of children’s art and posting it online, have increased my appreciation of the value of art in education and, of course, of all children – they don’t have to be biologically mine…