The Art Experience

Yesterday I spent a few hours at The Art Experience in Pontiac; great people, great space to work in, and really interesting things going on. They are a non-profit community art studio. I spent my time working in their studio space, during open studio hours, next to a girl with many disabilities. She kept me intrigued with one story after another of how she's beat the odds. It was very inspiring. She worked on a picture of a bird, while I worked on a treasure box for the group's fund raiser. It was a great introduction for me because she told me all the reasons she loved TAE and details of specific classes she took there. She herself will be offering a poetry class there on Saturday afternoons, in the near future. There were many references while I was there to TAE being like extended family. I left feeling so happy that a place like this exists. They have worked and are working with many different populations and seem open to figure out how to work with anyone that is interested. I'm looking forward to spending more time there and taking in as much as I can.

extra note: I was really interested in a class she described where a list of life problems was read at the beginning of the class. Everyone would choose one of the issues and explain how it related to their life that week. Then they would all spend time making art. At the end they would share their art and each person would have a chance to comment on everyone else's art and what it said to them. My friend really loved that class. She felt it changed her life.

September 28, 2011 5:59 AM