PAINT WHAT YOU FEEL

Instead of asking a student to paint a bird, I asked him to paint what it felt like to fly. Instead of painting a rainbow, paint what it feels like to see a rainbow. Unhindered by the need to make something that actually looked like something (with all the frustrations associated with that), the students could now get their emotions more quickly onto the canvas.

The squeegees, rollers and scrapers came from the local hardware store. I showed them a few of Richter's paintings and off they went. Five young artists (ages 8-12) created this work. The names of the paintings were equally interesting: Been In a Head, Lucky, Bees, Coins, People Talking, Dark Rainbow. Expressions of emotions by children that have lived a tougher life than you or I can imagine.

Astor Home for Children is located in Rhinebeck, NY. 80 kids and 100 staff members dedicated to the idea of giving children back their childhood. I started as a volunteer art teacher three years ago and now spend five afternoons a week there.

Our show opens internally on April 23rd. An show for the public is in the works. Both archival prints and the paintings will be available for sale to benefit Astor arts programs.