In good hands

Although many special education students only take her class for a couple of years before they progress to another school, Art Abilities teacher Edna Sealy has a few students she’s been teaching ever since the start of the art therapy program 10 years ago. 

When one particular student with low-functioning autism first participated in the class, she said, he didn’t like to do any of the activities and did not like art. 

Over the years, Sealy said, she’s watched the boy, now a middle schooler, transition into loving the projects each year, which his mother expressed excitement about to her recently because he’s gotten more outgoing by sharing his art.

“It’s a way of reaching children,” Sealy said. “I have another little boy who is actually taking private lessons now because he is so artistic. He can’t talk. He can’t communicate that well, but he is able to do art. I probably could think of thousands of other stories.”   

The Shelby County Arts Council has offered their supplementary art therapy program in more than 17 Shelby County public schools, including three in Chelsea, for 10 years. The schools Sealy will be teaching in mid-March through May include Chelsea Park Elementary, including kindergarten, Chelsea Middle School and Chelsea High School. This makes Chelsea one of the only cities where the program is offered at the high school level. 

Over the course of the four semesters, Sealy rotates in and out of the schools to teach special needs classrooms once a week for five weeks, at the convenience of class schedules and teachers. Classes can include anywhere from six to 16 students.

Executive Director Bruce Andrews said Art Abilities is a grant-based program supported by the Shelby County Community Health Foundation, and each year it costs between $24,000 and $27,000 for all 17 schools. 

“These kids and their parents are looking for some ways to instill some personal pride in a child like this. So when they take home one of Ms. Edna’s pieces with a grin on their face, that’s a source of personal pride you really can’t put a price tag on,” he said.

Sealy, who has been the art teacher for the program for the full 10 years, said the special needs students can have a wide range of struggles that take one-on-one teaching and attention. Some students are visually impaired or non-verbal and live with cerebral palsy or autism, which makes art therapy important for cognitive development, reinforcement of positive behavior and working on getting along positively with peers. 

“They might move into a class where there’s really a diverse array of disabilities and different levels of impairment. The teacher really has to be able to think on the fly to make it a creative experience for everyone involved,” Andrews said.

Sealy said she’s seen art encourage individuality, creativity and thinking out of the box, especially since they do projects the students might not have the opportunity to be taught in a typical art class. 

The five weeks of classes start by creating their own portfolio to keep all their work in, Sealy said, which the students will eventually get to take home with them. They enjoy the portfolio every year because they get to create it however they like, she added.

“They like to do their own drawings. They pick their own colors; they use their favorite colors. It’s a lot of color recognition,” she said. 

In 2019, they will be doing a pour painting, which involves pouring paint on a surface in a variety of ways for artistic effect. Sealy also plans to bring out clay to make pots, which is a popular activity she does almost every year. 

She gives the students a lot of glazes to choose from and learn about, and then she gets the pots fired and brings them back at the end of the year.

“The first time, they don’t know how to do it, but now they got it, they just got it. They practice, throw the clay down, make it into a ball, juggle the clay for motor skills — they love it,” Sealy said. 

Sealy said a huge part of the reason she chooses certain art projects is because they are sensory, and many of the students she works with have anxiety or trouble with sensory activities. Working with clay, for example, involves touching and manipulating, and “clay can be very soothing,” she said. Most years, they also do some sort of collage activity “because they love patterns” and creating their own design. 

“I know how hard it is to be a teacher, period, and to be a teacher in a classroom with diverse special needs, I know that teacher is exhausted. … Doing a creative exercise for 90 minutes or so, I feel like, gives that professional teacher in her environment a break. She knows those kids are in confident hands and gives back a more inspired, relaxed classroom,” Andrews said. 

This year, Sealy will also be teaching them about Vincent van Gogh and incorporating sea glass to make a border around a painting. 

“I usually go through a process. It’s not the completion of the project, but the process of doing it,” she said. 

Students are also able to work on skills like following directions in a relaxed and fun environment. At some of the schools, they also divide the classes into two sessions because there are so many students at different levels. 

“I think [art therapy] is a social thing, interaction with the teacher and other kids. It’s about cooperating with the other students, developing motor skills with kids,” Sealy said. “It gives them a sense of accomplishment. You’re letting them succeed at something, so that’s another thing that’s really good about the program.”

In the past, Andrews said, the Arts Council has done art shows displaying all the students’ work at the end of the year, which they hope to do again. Logistics of the art show can be challenging, though, since the schools they serve are spread out over a large area, and there isn’t a great central location. Andrews said they hope to do another art show soon, though.

“Our challenge always is that people don’t see this program. It’s been touching all these schools for so many years, but no one’s ever seen it unless they are part of it, which makes it particularly challenging for us to raise money on a consistent basis,” he said.

Andrews added that Art Abilities is always seeking support so that the program can be sustainable and grow its reach to more schools. 

Learn more about the Shelby County Arts Council or how to donate at shelbycountyartscouncil.com.