Art program sparks creativity

As spring rolls around on the Palouse, Rosanna Cartwright breaks out her art supplies and Genesee students get creative.

Cartwright, an instructional aide at the school, started the SPARK! Art Club last spring when she noticed a desire among students to learn more about art.

An artist herself, Cartwright often draws pictures for teaching, decorates rooms and designs posters for the school. Soon, students began asking her to draw pictures for them and she saw an opportunity.

"My true passion is allowing others to find that creativity in themselves," said Cartwright, who began setting aside time to teach individuals mini-art lessons, but it was not enough to fill the need.

"I started to think of ways to make this happen on a bigger scale for those kids who really want to make more art and who need this in their lives," she said.

After receiving encouragement from Genesee Superintendent Wendy Moore, Cartwright started gauging interest in an art club and the response was overwhelming. Soon enough, she had her first SPARK! Art session scheduled for Friday after school.

"I did not expect the 50 or so kids that showed up that first meeting, but we accommodated them," Cartwright said.

One of Cartwright's biggest struggles with students is keeping them positive about their own work. She had to ban certain phrases such as "I can't," or "I don't like mine."

"It is just inherent in our society to be humble and disregard the fact that we are all artists and creators and what we express through art or behavior or speech is unique and valuable," she said.

Cartwright began the second annual after-school spring art program two weeks ago with a new twist - science.

With the help of a grant from NASA's Summer of Innovation program, Cartwright teamed up with special education teacher Joe Bartosz to develop project-based lessons that incorporate science and engineering into art. Their first project is designing and decorating hot air balloons.

Cartwright believes there is an important art element to science, technology, engineering and math. Without it, she said, everything in the world would be solely about function and a very cold, dark place.

"Everything nowadays is 'designed,' " she said. "The most famous buildings and bridges don't just serve the function of housing rooms or crossing rivers. The form is important to people."

The chemistry, or "spark," between children and art is what Cartwright finds inspiring about the after-school program. She recognizes that many children lose their inhibition after a certain age and she works to re-establish their creativity.

"I want to show kids that they are valuable, their art is valuable and the fact that they are expressing themselves is valuable," she said. "It just is."

Estelle Gwinn can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 301, or by email to egwinn@dnews.com.