Grace Art Camp 2011, Tales of the Serengeti: Grace Art Camp is there!
Fifteen years ago, taking note of a lack of art in our neighborhood, we launched Grace Art Camp. It has grown into a thriving seven-week art program, telling stories from cultures around the world and teaching local children to engage these stories through various art forms.
In 2010, Grace Art Camp stumbled upon a new vision. As students engaged Caribbean stories through art – including crafting little glass rings – the people of Haiti were in need. These tandem stories of Caribbean art in Portland and need in Haiti sparked Mother Esme’s imagination. “Grace Art Camp,” she thought, “is ready to move out into the cultures it embraced s each year and create relationships.” So, Grace Art Camp sold those little glass rings, raising $11,500 to help our friends in Haiti.
We knew this connection with the cultures we embraced needed to continue. So, in preparation for 2011’s camp, Tales of the Serengeti, we decided to partner with Grace and Paul Kuto, who have been working in Kenya for over 30 years, to build a community center in Chwele village. We also connected with the Duraja Academy, a school for Kenyan girls from war torn situations. Specifically, we connected with a girl named Naomi who dreams of becoming a lawyer because she “believes in justice for all people.”
During 2011’s seven-week art camp, we made and sold rafiki (friendship) bracelets, raising $7,500 which we split between the Chwele village community center and Naomi’s tuition at the Duraja academy. However, we wanted to go beyond simply raising and sending money; we wanted real connections! So we decided to engage in a letter-writing and art exchange with our new friends in Kenya.
After art camp, Mother Esme sat in her office surveying all the art and letters to be sent to Kenya and decided: “It just seems too impersonal to mail it, and we want to be sure it arrives safely. I’m just going to take it to Kenya.” But taking the art and letters wasn’t enough; she decided to take an artist, Julie Romberg with her. And taking Julie wasn’t enough; she decided to teach print-making to our new Kenyan friends. “And so the adventure began,” says Mother Esme, “We had lots of adventures!”
In Chwele village, they exchanged art and letters and taught 300 villagers to design and print t-shirts. At the Duraja Academy, they met Naomi, exchanged letters and art and facilitated two print-making courses. Looking back on their time in Kenya, Mother Esme said, “It was a highly higly successful trip.”
But the success of this story doesn’t end there. Parents and parishioners are encouraged to continuepartnering with Naomi in her education. But still, the success doesn’t end there. In 2013 we hope to send artists and counselors to facilitate an art camp in Chwele village. After this initial art camp, the Kuto’s and Chwele village will have their own reproducible art camp. “Grace Art Camp will have planted a way of creating resources by hands-on training for local artists and leaders in how to stage an art camp or art festival ;” says Mother Esme, “this creates a catalyst for a wonderful art gathering – a peaceful kind of thing – in Chwele village.” Dreaming for the future, Mother Esme explains that this will not be a one time thing. “We’ll do that in 2013; but let’s not stop there. Let’s do it again!” Grace Academy hopes to plant a new art camp every three years.
Reflecting on the continuing story of Grace Art Camp, Mother Esme retells, “What began 15 years ago with parents and parishioners noticing that there wasn’t art education in the area is now an internationally connected, hands-on organization…It is no longer a local Portland art camp. We are reaching out into the world and creating face-to-face connections…Who knows what could be happening three years from now!”
