Children’s Art Program Evolves at Sandy Historical Museum

By Abby Haney

Kids working on their flower painting at the most recent art class in March. In this class kids focused on hand eye coordination and different painting techniques to create a scenery piece.

Sandy Historical Society Museum engages with the community in a multitude of formats. The museum works with kids especially to promote history and allow opportunities for all. Hosting the Wy’east Artisan Guild’s monthly children’s art class at the museum is one example. As of February, thanks to grant funding from the Clackamas Art Alliance, the art class fee was removed along with barriers that came with it. 

Before the museum was awarded funding as part of the Clackamas County Cultural Coalition Grant Program there was a $10 registration fee to cover art supplies and planning.  The monthly art class at the museum is held on the third Wednesday of the month from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.. Each month students work on a different, seasonal art project led by Wy’East Artisan Guild volunteer artists.

“My philosophy for the art class has been consistently exposing students to different materials and methods and art principles so I try to focus on using a variety of different materials to expose them to and then maybe they’ll use those materials but in a different way,” Head of Wy’East Artisans Guild Kids Outreach Becky Hawley said. 

Hawley has taught kids to create art with various materials, ranging from wool to paint. An especially popular class was the January stained glass windows. 

“One of the biggest, one of the most fun [where] even the parents wanted to join in and the volunteers wanted to join in, was stained glass windows made from wax paper and crayon,” Hawley said. Hawley teaches art skills of hand-eye coordination, color mixing and technique but also, patience and not having a fixed mindset. 

“It’s important to teach kids flexibility,” Hawley said. “Having that flexibility gives you the courage to experiment and come up with new things or get better.” 

Hawley's teaching experience started in 2008 at Firwood Elementary School. She originally taught as a volunteer to assist kids in reading. Hawley is dyslexic and wanted to teach strategies to kids that she had learned. While there, Hawley discovered Firwood had no art class. 

“I went and volunteered to do reading with kids and maybe help them with some of the strategies I’d learned over my lifetime,” Hawley said. “That’s when I realized that there were no art classes and that if they had a teacher who wasn’t artistically inclined, they didn’t get any art.” 

In 2014, Hawley volunteered to teach a curriculum in order to add art into these kids' daily school lives. In it, students learned about different biomes through reading then designed an animal, either from their imagination or reality. If they designed a creature, Hawley questioned their reasoning in order to dive into their reasoning. 

“What I wanted from them was something that would live in this biome but doesn’t have to be a real thing. You can take something and make it better, give it a feature that makes it more viable in this biome that would help it live,” Hawley said. For example, a student wanted to add antlers to a mouse to add another protection layer. 

A student from the art class painting a frame of a flower scenery during the most recent art class. Teacher Becky Hawley focused on diving into imagination by pushing kids to create imaginary creatures.

Now as a teacher for these art classes, Hawley implements the same ideas but instead of one classroom of kids in similar ages, the ages span from 5-12. She ensures that each age is challenged for their personal skill level. 

“It’s something at their age that they can feel successful about,” Hawley said. “If I over do something that’s too much over their head and they can’t create something that they are happy with then I feel like that’s a failure on my part.” 

Art allows people of all ages to express themselves in a different format. Hawley recognizes this and creates artistic opportunities for all. 

“Art is important because it’s a form of self expression and it’s a way of communicating our thoughts and feelings and ideas to other people,” Hawley said. Her teaching at Firwood is one example of this and teaching art young is important as it removes peer pressure that develops later on.  

“I’m here to give them a better experience, not make them afraid to express their art,” Hawley said. 

Additionally, art teaches people things beyond the world of art; it relates to life principles and one can never create a failed piece. 

“You can start out with a piece of art where you think you know where you’re going but then it can take a turn and go in a whole different direction and maybe be better than you ever thought it was going to be,” Hawley said. 

The Clackamas County Cultural Coalition's goal is to expand cultural assets which include art, history, heritage heritage and humanities. The grant through Clackamas County Cultural Coalition is from Oregon Cultural Trust, a funding created by Oregon Legislation for arts and culture across the state. Oregon Cultural Trust gives 25% of its funding to all 45 county and tribal-based areas in Oregon to be used as grants. Oregon is the only state to have funding in this way.

The art class purpose is to expose kids in the area to art but payment can prohibit this for some. The grant purpose is to allow all kids to join the class. 

“This offers kids who can't afford to do all those more expensive things an outlet,” Hawley said. 

Now, the fee went from $10 to $0. Registration is still required and comes with a $5 that is reimbursed when checking in day-of at the museum. 

“One of the things that is important with the classes being free, it doesn't prohibit any parent from sending their kid to these art classes so the cost isn't a barrier,” Hawley said.

The monthly art class registration can be found on the museum website https://www.sandyhistory.com/events-and-rentals. Venture into the museum on the third wednesday at 4 p.m. to have your kids create a masterpiece for your fridge with Hawley and volunteers.

Abby Haney is the Editor-In-Chief at Sandy High School for the Pioneer Press and is a writer at large for The Sandy Historical Society and The Sandy Standard.