Oswego, NY – Dozens of youngsters spent part of their winter break creating memories.
For her Girl Scout Gold Award Project, Paige Gray decided to create a “Mural of Memories” and rekindle the love of art in elementary and middle school age students in the process.
She conducted a free art camp in the Oswego Public Library’s Community Room and invited all students in grades five, six and seven to attend.
“I have been into art and painting ever since I was six years old,” Paige said. “I’m even thinking about a possible career in art.”
“A lot of kids don’t like going to art class any more in school, especially middle school,” she added. “So, I want to show them that art can be fun; you can have fun doing it and you can kind of like do whatever you want.”
From Feb. 22 to 24 the youngsters gathered at the library from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Throughout the four-day camp, students enjoyed learning art basics and experienced art history through fun, hands-on activities.
“They explored several different art mediums by completing cool small projects,” Paige explained.
Then at the end of the week (from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Feb. 25), they worked collaboratively to design and paint a portable mural.
For the three-panel mural, she picked a theme, the quote: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
“I read them the quote and then I asked them to draw what they thought it meant,” she explained. “Their beliefs are incorporated in the mural.”
They wanted to highlight saving the Rain Forest and endangered animals. Other ‘changes’ the youngsters featured in their project include health improvements, stamping out bullying, more friendships, kindness and peace for the world.
The mural is designed to be able to travel around to different places for presentations and be displayed at art shows, Paige explained. But she said she would donate it to an organization that would include it in its permanent collection.
Assisting in the project throughout the week were students from elementary grades all the way through college.
“A lot of them were elementary kids. We even had a second grader take part,” she said.
The Gold Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve.
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