the Painting Activist

24″ x 30″ oil paintings on canvas
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Rummaging through my digital archive of paintings, I came across these fairly recent private commission portraits that shook loose from my memory an organization I’ve been attempting to collaborate with. Months ago I sifted through online information on youth and art focused nonprofits, and discovered the Memory Project. The concept, which came about after founder, Ben Schumaker, volunteered for one month at an orphanage in Guatemala, is a brilliant interlacing of high school art curricula with orphaned children in third world countries. High school art students are given photos of an orphan and create a portrait of that child, which is turned over to the Memory Project and then delivered to the orphanage. Correspondence between the portrait subject and the student is established creating obvious unique opportunities for both individuals.

Few of these children who have been abused, abandoned, or for some other reason are without a family, posses any items reminding them of their past or identity. We take for granted things as simple as photographs of ourselves with loved ones and other sentimental knickknacks. The portraits give the orphans a sense of self that they can reflect on as they grow older, which will also remind them that someone cared enough to create it. Of course, this is also incredibly rewarding for the high school student as well. Opportunities such as this truly broaden the horizons for kids at a time when their world is narrowly self-focused.

This is such a powerful and fulling project for any high school art class I recommend you pass the word onto to teachers you know that would like to implement the portraits in their school. They can visit www.thememoryproject.org and click on “get involved.”

I hope to possibly post some of the portraits that will come of this school year on my blog if I can connect with teachers incorporating the Memory Project into their curriculum.

Ps - Click here to watch a CBS news segment on The Memory Project.