Gifted Artists

Published 12:35 pm Friday, January 8, 2016

BHS Advanced Art Students Painting Portraits Of Ethiopian Students

Mikaylah Treanor dabs paint on the canvas, gently mixing shades of brown until she creates the perfect hue.

She glances at the photo beside her, then back at the canvas where a child’s face is taking shape.

“It’s exciting, but I’m nervous what they’ll think of it,” says Treanor, 15. “It’s frustrating, trying to get the color right.”

Treanor and her fellow students in advanced art at Baker High School are painting portraits of children from Ethiopia, who will receive these paintings as a gift in the next month.

The program, says teacher Kristen Anderson, is called the Memory Project.

According to the website, the Memory Project is a nonprofit organization that “invites art teachers and their students to create portraits for youth around the world who have faced substantial challenges, such as neglect, abuse, loss of parents, and extreme poverty.”

Since 2004, the project has created more than 80,000 portraits for children in 35 countries.

Information on the website goes on to explain that the portraits “help children feel valued and important” and give art students “an opportunity to creatively practice kindness and global awareness.”

When Anderson found out about the program, she asked her advanced art students if anyone wanted to participate.

“These kids all said ‘I want to do it,'” she said.

This project fits into the portrait-painting session Anderson includes in her advanced art class every year. Local artist Amy VanGaasbeck is the guest artist who helps lead the students through the steps of oil painting.

After expressing interest in the Memory Project, Anderson received two photos of the children – one to use for the painting, and one to send back along with a photo of the student artist.

She said the portraits could be completed in any medium, but couldn’t be on a typical wooden-framed canvas.

Instead, the students are using sheets of canvas, which the children can tape to their walls.

Anderson said the organizers of the Memory Project record the child’s reaction when he or she receives the portrait.

See more in Friday’s issue of the Baker City Herald.