Art for Warmth: Client Painting Workshop!

After a volunteer session in early October, we chatted with a new volunteer, who we learned is a local artist and art educator. As part of our mission is to help people move towards self-sufficiency, we have been looking for more ways to engage our clients, to find ways to help them be productive. Our conversation turned to “what if’s”: What if we started an art program to give clients an opportunity to do something beyond survival - something creative and fun? 

For most people living on the street or in shelters, every day is about survival, finding resources – including public restrooms and food.  We came up with the idea of having Joy lead a few clients to do art work in our office on Wed after the meal service. Our office is small, but could accommodate up to eight clients.

Joy Zhao was excited “to bring joy, warmth, and a little bit of arts’ magic into their day” Their project? No artistic experience necessary, use oil pastels on paper to enjoy creating art of your own.

“Just having a creative project available for people to do is therapeutic in so many ways!”

The huge benefits of creativity cannot be underestimated. It gives our clients an opportunity to chat while working on something along-side others, share a laugh or two, and have FUN!

Joy said, “Thank you Wei! Because of this opportunity, I was able to hold an art workshop and share the joy of art with clients. It was a really meaningful experience for me, and I felt happy to see everyone creating together.”

All eight of our clients were very happy for the opportunity to do something creative and positive. They were energized by the enthusiasm Joy brought to the class, and would love to meet more often than monthly!