Emerging artists take on Kre-a-tiv U-turn in teaching children the art of creating

The monarch butterfly, a symbol of transformation, feeds on milkweed.

The Milkweed Collective, a group of established artists, poets and performers in Etobicoke, feeds on transformation.

The professional artist-educators from Milkweed have partnered with the City of Toronto’s Cultural Hotspot initiative for a signature project called Kre-a-tiv U-turn (KUT), an apprenticeship program that will help young artists spread their creative wings.

Milkweed staff will mentor seven emerging artists, between the ages of 18 and 25, as they organize a collective exhibit, provide summer arts programming and facilitate the Exploring Creativity in Depth (ECID) program to children in the community.

The five-hour ECID workshop, developed by Milkweed’s director Austin Clarkson, enables students to express personal thoughts and feelings through two original drawings. One is based on reflections of a professional piece of artwork, and the other is based on the discussions and emotions spawned from the initial drawing.

ECID fosters self-awareness, mutual understanding and creativity, and has been taught to more than 6,000 elementary school students in Etobicoke since 2002.

“This program allows us to say everyone has a creative imagination, not just so-called professional artists,” Clarkson said.

He said the seven protégés in KUT, who all come from credible arts schools, demonstrate how the education system is oriented to critical thinking and techniques as opposed to accessing authentic creative personalities.

“They’ve never experienced anything like this. Education emphasizes reason over imagination, and it should really balance the two,” he said.

Milkweed member Ina Puchala, an abstract expressionist painter and director of KUT, agrees with Clarkson and specifically chose candidates from various disciplines open to new ways of learning and exploring.

“The idea of the artist being secluded and sheltered in a studio has fizzled out. There’s a turn towards getting out into the community, opening up the door, integrating with talent and making art accessible to people at any level,” she said.

The emerging artists are familiarizing themselves with the ECID philosophies by actually going through the workshop during their weekend-long training sessions.

Etobicoke’s Claudia Di Nucci, a 23-year-old artist in the KUT program, said she can see transformation in her own pieces.

“In one drawing I started out with a few dark colours, but in my second, after a group discussion, the lines were a lot looser and there was a lot of vibrancy in the colours. I didn’t hold back,” she said. “It stops you from being stuck in your own head, and lets your creativity flow.”

Visual artist Ksenia Vendrova, 23, said she sees changes in her work that cross over into her life outside the studio.

“I’m able to connect with myself and my own struggles and experiences in this artwork. Even after four years of studying art, I wasn’t able to connect with my work on such a level,” she said.

The emerging artists’ revelations will permeate to the youth they will be instructing this summer.

Alana Staszczyszyn, a 19-year-old harpist, composer and visual artist from Etobicoke School of the Arts, said teaching the ECID program will help remove the fear of failure plaguing many young minds.

“The stigma that art has to be a certain thing or look a certain way is really damaging for children in our culture. It stops them from wanting to be creative,” she said. “I heard lot of kids come out ECID saying ‘Hey mommy, I’m an artist now.’ I really hope that carries through when we do it too. I hope they see everything has its own beauty in its own way.”

KUT will be running summer arts camps at Richview and Mimico libraries and Arts Etobicoke in July open to youth ages eight to 15.

KUT will culminate during Culture Days with a month-long exhibit of the artists’ and children’s artwork in September and a multi-arts performance Saturday, Sept. 26 and Sunday, Sept. 27 at Richview library.

The emerging artists will be responsible for planning the summer arts programs suitable for each venue, as well as running a blog documenting their experiences and progress,

“It’s really critical that they take ownership of this. They end up driving the project,” Puchala said.

Clarkson said the objective is to create communities of artists like the one Milkweed is forming with the emerging artists.

“Milkweed is inspiring a younger generation to continue giving children the opportunity to explore their imagination and creativity,” Di Nucci said. “The thought that they believe we, as young artists, can take this on is really touching. We feel blessed.”

As the monarch is transforming from caterpillar to butterfly, the emerging artists of KUT are transforming from students to teachers.

“This isn’t just going to arts camp and having fun. This is going to change people’s lives,” Staszcyszyn said.

For the Kre-a-tiv U-turn artists’ blog and information on summer arts camps visit www.kutproject.weebly.com

To learn more about Milkweed Collective and ECID visit www.exploringcreativity.org