With paintbrushes, paper and a passion for helping others, members of the Art for the Mind Club are turning creativity into compassion. The Art for the Mind Club is a group of students who aim to leave a positive impact on the community by donating art to raise awareness about mental health issues and encouraging hospital patients by donating art. The club meets every first and third Tiger block of the month in the ceramics room.
“We’re making people happy and letting them express themselves through art,” said Junior Mila Davidson, a club officer. She also expressed that the club makes people happy who receive the art.
At the beginning of the school year, juniors Mila Davidson and Robby Gately shared the idea of creating a club that combined art and mental health awareness together. With the help of fine and performing arts teacher Eileen Gagarin, the club adviser, their collaboration blossomed into a tight knit community for students to express their artistic interests.
“In a way, it helps us and our friends to have a chill time at the end of the day for art,” said Davidson. “When we donate it to hospitals, that gives us a purpose and lets us pursue helping kids with mental health challenges.”
According to Davidson, various projects the club focused on this year were creating and donating greeting cards, coloring books, watercolor paintings and paper collages. Next school year, the club plans to pursue larger-scale projects for a greater impact. The donations are made to local hospitals, specifically CHA Cambridge Hospital.
Through emailing and reaching out to nearby hospitals, the club is able to send art to children in need of encouragement.
According to Junior Dylan Lamphere, a club officer, the objective of the club is “expanding and giving back to the community.”
The club succeeds in interacting with students through working collaboratively to create art and making connections to the places receiving the art.
“They don’t teach that kind of connection between the students and the programs, that’s something that we have,” Lamphere said.
According to Gately, club officer, many children often felt neglected or down on themselves due to their surroundings. But being present and showing up for them made the kids more comfortable, said Gately while participating with the club.
According to Gagarin, club membership has been quite impressive, especially considering that the club was only recently established. Gagarin added that she believes the club is effective in organizing their time and following through on their plans.
“We want to try and do some more paintings and possibly a big mural at some point, but our focus for now is getting things donated to hospitals,” Gately said.
To increase publicity for the Art for the Mind club, members have discussed creating a website for the club. Additionally, they have decided to make the meetings weekly next year instead of following the current biweekly schedule.
