Artasia at Cathy Wever
YMCA Beyond the Bell
🖌️ Artist Educator: Brynn Mercer
The Joy of Community Creation
Seeing your work displayed in a space is an opportunity that is exciting to experience no matter your age or artistic experience. For the students at Cathy Wever, I got to experience that joy with them, some of them for the first time.Â
I was brought onto the Artasia team a bit later than some of my colleagues, so at Cathy Wever we started a week later than most of the other sites. This was my first week with Artasia and the energy was high as I introduced the flag making activity to my students. I supplied the classroom with paint and fabric which I had prepared to look like little triangles. I also had a supply of stickers I brought from home which I had from programming I had run with children in the past. Both materials were exciting to the students, as they didn’t get to use either very often, according to their own accounts. It was exciting to see some of them exploring color mixing, while others enjoyed the tactical experience of creating scenes and stories with the stickers. This group was a range of ages, with the youngest just having graduated kindergarten, so their fine motor skills were all at varying stages of development.
Once the students had finished wrapping up the creation of their flags, I got to introduce the most exciting part of the experience- creating a communal banner with all the flags. With the help of my Focus on Youth team members, I hung a piece of string across the classroom where all the flags were pinned to with clothes pins. The students were all so excited to see their work hung in their classroom beside their classmates. As I hung them, I listened to the children excitedly point out which flag was theirs to their friends. Hanging work to be displayed is such a simple concept but the impact is always huge. I believe art should be seen and enjoyed by others, and I’m so glad these students had a chance to experience that joy.
Collaboration Towards a Bigger Goal
Our third week at Cathy Wever was both intimidating and exciting. The activity we introduced to the students this week was wearable art, made from recycled fabric, vegetable netting and other materials. When introducing the activity, I did some brainstorming with the children about what types of things we can make to wear on our bodies. One particular group of girls were excited about the idea of making a pair of pants. I never want to discourage the children’s ideas, but I knew that making pants would be quite challenging. I told them that I would love for them to try their idea, and offered support if they needed any help.
The girls faced a few roadblocks in their journey, one being the materials that I had brought for the students to use. Since the fabric I had for them was recycled and donated, there weren’t any pieces big enough for them to make the entire thing from one piece of fabric. As a solution to this problem, they used smaller pieces and fit them together to make one big piece. They also weren’t sure how to attach the fabric together. They asked if I had brought a needle and thread, which I didn’t have in my kit that week (plus I’m hopeless at sewing, so I’m not sure what assistance I could’ve provided in this case anyways!). I did however bring safety pins, which they used in place of traditional stitches. I observed as they traced one girl’s legs onto a piece of fabric in order to get the measurements correct. They each divided up a different task among the three of them, with each one coming up with a new solution to the roadblocks they faced. I was amazed watching them work, the three of them collaborating to create something that I had my doubts they could make.Â
The power of collaboration was extremely evident with these three girls, as each one brought a unique perspective and solution around the problems they encountered during the project. The end result? A pair of pants that perfectly fit one of the girls, whom the others proudly paraded around the classroom to show their classmates. I think I learned an extremely valuable lesson that day, which is to never underestimate what my students are capable of, and I think they learned that teamwork really does make the dream work.  Â
Thank you to our Focus on Youth team members Eddie Ivanchuk and Ava Weinhardt for supporting us at this site!
Brynn can be found on Instagram or at her portfolio website.