Family First

Family First: The Importance Of Art

NEW YORK (CBS) ― My 3-year-old daughter is always bringing home art projects from school and while they're adorable, I never really thought about the important lessons she's learning while creating the pieces. After meeting the children from Union Settlement's art program in East Harlem and talking to their teachers and parents, I have a much stronger appreciation for the importance of exposing children to art as early as possible.

Tell me about the union settlement youth art program.
Union Settlement's Youth at Union brings art to East Harlem. The class is free and has an average of 15 students, ages 5-8. The Rising Stars students have done more than create great art.

Working with Art Specialist, Yvonne Lamar in their after-school program they learned about a variety of mediums, techniques and skill sets including ink, marker, watercolor, pastels, clay and collage. They also learned how to care for the many tools and supplies used to create each work of art.

But even greater lessons are learned:
* They learn to listen, observe and follow direction to get the required instructions for each lesson.
* The learn the importance of following direction to achieve their goal.
* They learn self-control and patience, as it often took several classes to complete all the steps necessary to create their art.
* They learned pride in their accomplishments and see first-hand that through hard work they can achieve something great.
* They learn problem solving. Don't just give up – be responsible, think about solutions, try them and achieve your goal.

How have you seen the kids grow?
Through art the children in the class have learn how to express themselves and share their emotions. We have seen children who were shy and introverted bloom and become confident. Art is not only a form of expression, it's a way to find your own voice and discover yourself by motivating your brain to explore and expand.

How do kids get involved?
Youth at Union offers a variety of age appropriate scheduled activities each day. Children in each program are asked who is interested in participating in the art class. Those who are interested attend an initial general group class. This class provides them a sample of what the class will offer and helps them determine if they want to continue with the art or another of the classes offered such as computers, physical fitness. The kids have been preparing for an art show.

Tell me about the Colors of East Harlem art show tonight.

The show will display a sampling of the children's art in a gallery type setting. All pieces will be shown grouped by project and the instructions detailing how they children created the piece will be displayed. Several of the young artists, their parent(s) and their instructor, Yvonne Lamar-Rogers will be present to discuss the art and answer any questions quest may have. Also available to answer questions will be:

* Ellen Simon, Executive Director
* Laura Johnson, Associate Director
* Steven Portericker, Director, Youth at Union
* Constance Mensink, Director of Development

Guests will include Union Settlement Association's Board members, friends, family, supporters and their guests.

More information is available at Union Settlement or by contacting Constance Mensink, Director of Development at 212.828.6024 or cmensink@unionsett.org

Final thoughts?

Private funding is critical for us to continue to help these children as they continue to explore, learn and grow.

Send Comments to Cindy Hsu

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