The UCP of Central Ohio and Great Western Academy recently received a $1000 grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) to provide a new mural in the Dowd Center library. The project provided a fun learning experience for students, while incorporating a mentorship for artists with disabilities. A 6th grade class from the Imagine Great Western Academy joined with UCP participants to paint a unique mural. The mural will be dedicated and installed later this summer in the library at the Dowd Center in Columbus.
The goal of The Art of Building Character project was to provide a new and fun learning experience for the Great Western Academy students. Currently, in the classroom, students are learning various character traits and painting techniques. During this project, the students practiced these techniques with participants from UCP.
Prior to beginning this project, UCP participants attended a lecture and discussion on character traits. By learning these character traits, the Great Western Academy students and the UCP participants integrated citizenship, kindness, and integrity in the mural for the Dowd Center. The interaction provided a diverse experience for the elementary students and a mentorship for UCP artists. The Art of Building Character project coincides with the mission of the GCAC by benefiting the Arts-In-School program and the Neighborhood Arts Program.
The Dowd Center is part of the Homeless Families Foundation. The foundation provides an after school program and summer program for the homeless and at-risk youth.
The funding helped the UCP artists and the students of the Great Western Academy to engage in a new learning experience and gain the knowledge and purpose of acceptance and the importance of making learning fun.
Connecting Abilities is an art project created to showcase collaborative works of art created by artists from The Ohio State University and UCP of Central Ohio's Art Bridge Studio. The art project began when a student from The Ohio State University, Morgan Green, began volunteering at the Art Bridge Studio in September of 2008. In the fall of 2009, Green learned about a program through Ohio State, called the Idea Lab, which would allow her to take her passion for volunteering with the artists of UCP to a new level. In fact it would give her the opportunity to share her experiences at the Art Bridge Studio with fellow students.
The Idea Lab provided a grant for Green's project, Connecting Abilities. The Idea Lab chose Green's idea to promote awareness to focus on abilities over disabilities. The grant supplied the artists with the supplies to connect their abilities.
The artists from The Ohio State University volunteered at the UCP of Central Ohio Art Bridge Studio every Friday for 10 weeks. During this time, the artists exchanged pieces as a collaborative effort. The artists from the Art Bridge Studio showed the students from Ohio State their artistic abilities rather than disabilities. It was a back and forth effort by the participants and students to create finished art pieces.
The funding UCP of Central Ohio received enabled UCP artists to develop artistically and provide awareness to Ohio State students and the Columbus community about artists with disabilities.
The pieces will be displayed at the following dates and locations:
- June 22nd-July 8th at Wild Goose Creative, 2491 Summit Street;
- July 19th- 25th at Global Gallery Coffee Shop in Clintonville; and
- August 10th-30th at Columbus Metropolitan Library.
For more information, please visit the UCP of Central Ohio Web site or contact Gina Ginn at (614) 279-0109 x209.
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