Elementary School Artist Exhibit

By Tom Missel
Director of Media Relations/Marketing

Don’t be fooled by the age of the artists who will gather at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts for an art exhibition opening and benefit auction at 6 p.m. on Feb. 26.

By the end of the night, this group of 54 fourth- and fifth-graders will have made a difference in the lives of children half a world away.

The project, “Art From The Heart,” links Olean’s Washington West Elementary School with a school and orphanage in Uganda, a connection cemented by people and programs at St. Bonaventure University.

Laura Hamed, a fourth-grade teacher at Washington West, was inspired by Susan Bosak’s book “Dream” to find a project that would build global awareness among her students and give them the opportunity to help others. She and fellow teachers Robin Charles and Cari Matejka landed on the idea of donating money raised from an auction of their students’ original artwork.

“After that,” said Hamed, “everything else was kind of serendipity,” a snowball of opportunity set in motion by a discussion with Evelyn Sabina, a former Washington West teacher who is now curator of educator at SBU’s Quick Center for the Arts.

“I thought it was something we could do at the Quick Center, treat it like a gallery opening,” said Sabina.

St. Bonaventure would provide two more pieces of the puzzle: a link to a school and orphanage in Africa in need of the students’ help and an undergraduate art student looking to feed his new-found passion for teaching.

St. Bonaventure senior Lindsay Pohlman of Orchard Park introduced the Washington West students to the Bethlehem Parents’ School and Orphanage in Uganda, which Pohlman and other SBU students have visited and are aiding through Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), a university service organization. The Washington West students began writing to the children in Uganda.

Fellow SBU senior Grant Lytle, who is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in visual arts, made weekly visits to Washington West through the university’s Journey Project, a program that encourages students to engage in service to others. Lytle, a Rochester native, enrolled at St. Bonaventure as a premed major, but a lifelong interest in art overtook him his sophomore year.

“Art was always there, but I kept chewing it out of my mind. Finally, I just said I’d rather be happy the rest of my life,” said Lytle. “When I first heard about ‘Art From The Heart,’ I said it sounds like something right up my alley.”

He became the project’s art director, teaching the students about color, sketching techniques and different art forms. It’s a role he was born for, said Hamed. “Grant’s a natural with the boys and girls,” she said. “He’s so patient and encouraging. They all really enjoy him.”

To inspire the young artists, their teachers asked them to write an essay about a special family member, “someone really important to them,” said Hamed. They then created a drawing, painting or piece of art that reminds them of that person.

The Feb. 26 exhibition opening and auction at the Quick Center, which is open to the public, will be a multi-media affair. The paintings and drawings will hang in the West Gallery while the students’ essays will be projected on a screen in the center’s Rigas Family Theater. Anyone may bid on the children’s art in a silent auction, with all proceeds going to Bethlehem Parents’ School and Orphanage.

It will be an exciting evening for students and parents alike, said Hamed.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t imagine,” she said. “I think it’s going to be amazing to walk in as a mom or dad and see your child’s artwork up there and then read the essay about his or her special person.”

Sabina agreed. “The children are so passionate and excited about this,” she said. “And what’s neat to me is that the experience has confirmed in Grant that he wants to be an art teacher.”

The project is another in a long and continuing series of Quick Center programming that reaches thousands of schoolchildren each year.

“We’re very proud of the outreach program that we’re able to provide in the area,” said Joseph LoSchiavo, the center’s executive director. “I’m very gratified for the positive feedback that’s come from the schools and also grateful to the individuals and businesses that support the program.”

Pictured, St. Bonaventure University senior Grant Lytle gives a lesson in mixing paints to Washington West students (from left) Matthew Stahley, Kristina Rivera, Tabitha Tuttle and Courtney Wilder.
(Photo courtesy of St. Bonaventure University)