Crutches & Colors Curriculum Field Test

Ella Snodgrass taught on various aspects of Haiti including its history, geography, housing, children and poverty. Then, using the Crutches & Colors curriculum, she introduced her students to disabilities and color theory with the theme, "Imagine that all someone wanted for Christmas was a new pair of crutches?" and a response, "We want to give the very best, not just new aluminum crutches - but painted doing our very best to show how much we care."

The students were then introduced to the Global Art Initiative's Crutch Project, and they were very excited to have an opportunity to decorate crutches that would be given to disabled people in Haiti.

Ella projected our website GlobalArtInitiative.org on a large screen to tie everything together.

"The website was a huge factor in presenting the message in a clear and concise manner," said Ella.  "The format was highly efficient."

Using the website she was able to introduce the artists and show their artwork.

On the final day, the class was joined by Theresa Mosely and Dr. Fred Sorrells. They showed photos of our Haitian artists and displayed original pieces of their art.

Theresa provided additional instruction about styles of art, such as still lifes, landscapes, portraits and abstracts.

Here Theresa Mosely poses a question to the class about the art being held by Ella Snodgrass. Hands are up all over the room.

Theresa also showed Christmas cards created by Haitian artists Herold Alvares and John Paul Joseph. Here the card being shown by Theresa shows a thin Santa Claus carrying a sack that is not bulging with gifts, and it helped to illustrate the impact of poverty on a culture and how art reflects the culture it comes from.

Students listened intently to Theresa Mosely as she demonstrated how to paint the crutches.

The class painted a total of 30 crutches, and three students worked on each crutch.

At the conclusion of the class, we congratulated the students, and each student received a print of "Undivided" by Haitian artist Herold Alvares.

Here Dr. Sorrells congratulates Zion Kelly, a young man who requested a photo of Haitian artist John Paul Joseph (JoJo). Zion's request demonstrated that the the curriculum had been successful in helping young people become sensitive to people with disabilities.

Click here for more of Zion's story.