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Smart, Strong, Bold Art
Girls Inc. Participants Experience the Arts through the Washington County Museum of Fine Art.

by Chelsea Weaver + photo by Jason Turner

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Going through a museum with six 10 to 12 year olds, one might anticipate racing feet through the halls and echoing voices in the galleries. But on a recent tour with a group of girls from Girls Inc. this was not the case. At first the young girls are taken back by the sophistication of the museum, shy to enter the lobby. By the time the tour ended, the girls seemed to be in their natural element. Though once skittish to enter, their eyes eagerly skim the walls and works of art. “Maybe the ship broke off and floated away,” one girl comments as she analyzes a piece. Their story lines are quite impressive, as they draw conclusions and express ideas that would be unexpected even of most adults.

The tours of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, part of a program headed by museum Director Rebecca Lane, Museum Educator Amy Hunt and Dale Stein, aim to “broaden the horizons and expectations of the participants,” says Amy. “This program introduces a group of girls to a world they might not have come into contact with before.” Along with teaching the girls art fundamentals and vocabulary, the program focuses on helping them gain confidence in their ability to share with others things they’ve learned about art and show comprehension about a unique topic.

Opening Young Minds
Every week Kara Carmack, an intern at the museum, works with a different age group of girls from the club. On Tuesdays Kara goes to Girls Inc. to show a PowerPoint presentation covering topics like self-portrait, landscape, perspective, texture, color and composition. By using examples from the museum’s collection during her presentation, Kara familiarizes the girls with the pieces they will see on their tour. After her presentation Kara asks the girls to create their own artwork around a certain theme based on what they’ve learned. One week’s activity was to draw pictures of things that could be considered history 30 years from now. Sara Smith, 11, drew a picture about the financial crisis containing money and signs reading, “Financial Crisis;” while Kvetta Odai, 11, drew Michelle Obama because she is the first African American First Lady.

The final phase of the program is Thursday’s tour of the museum. Kara touches again on pieces from her presentation, all the while staying flexible, talking about pieces the girls may take an interest in or ask questions about. “She has great positive energy and is able to tell when interest in a certain aspect of art might be fading and move on to something else in order to keep all the girls still actively involved,” Amy says. Kara says having the animal exhibition on display this summer was an excellent way to focus the girls’ interest. Bringing the girls’ attention to a pencil drawing of an elephant by a 14-year-old artist and a color pencil drawing of a lion by a 7 year old, Kara asks the girls to comment on what animals they see and what differences the two pieces show. “Art has the ability to get you thinking, and that’s what I really love about it,” says Kara.

The tour proceeds with an intriguing image of a frog — a piece that, viewed afar is seen as a photograph, while close up one is able to detect the hidden brush strokes and abundant detail — which the girls readily point out. The girls also find interest in some of the older pieces, especially the works in the museum’s memorial room for William Henry Singer Jr., who founded the museum with his wife in 1929. Intrigued, Kvetta asks about Mr. and Mrs. Singer: “Did Anna have children?” After a smile and a thought, Kara responds, “No, I don’t think Anna had any children.”

Growing Forward
The further through the museum Kara leads, the more interested and open the girls became, asking questions about the artwork and making comments to one another. Summing up their favorite piece from the tour — a contemporary sculpture made out of Styrofoam done by a local artist — the girls decide, “It was unusual from all the other paintings and showed art can be made of anything.” Their enthusiastic demeanor is encouraging, considering the hesitancy and restraint many exhibited during Tuesday’s initial presentation. “Even the girls whose nature is not to participate, you’re still able to see them analyzing and focusing on the questions from myself or the other girls,” Kara says.

Girls Inc. leaders Stacey Bishop and Will Figueroa both agree that all the girls were enjoying their experience with Kara and the museum while also learning lessons beyond art. Stacey hopes this will teach the girls how to act in other public places: “Here the rules were laid out. The girls realized the importance of the rules,” she says. “I would hope if the rules weren’t laid out, on their own the girls would know to not be disrespectful and not to touch.” An unexpected result of Kara’s children’s program has been its impact on museum staff and other adults. “I think it has really reenergized museum staff and docents and gotten people very excited about having animated conversations with children about art,” Amy says. “Kara’s program has been so successful, and the girls are so obviously having a great time participating in it and learning about the artwork, that we are hoping to have the full docent staff trained to present the program themselves.”

Going forward, organizers hope to see the program continue throughout the school year with Girls Inc.’s after school program and into next summer. Kara also would like to see other youth organizations get involved with the program. Amy agrees, saying, “We would love to become involved in other community organizations on similar programs or any other collaboration projects that we can dream up together. The museum should be used as a community resource. We really do feel that we hold each painting in our collection in trust for the members of the community… and we’d like everyone to feel like it’s ‘their’ museum.”