Over the years, the Young at Art program has taken on projects that reach a wider audience. This page outlines a few of them.
Calendar
The Young at Art Calendar 2014 is a compilation of drawings and watercolors by both adults and kids from the beginning of 2013.
The drawings were scanned into Photoshop and arranged into a beautiful wall calendar to be sold in Kingston and around Jamaica coming up to Christmas 2013.
All proceeds after printing will go to the charity Mustard Seed Communities.
Dyptich Mural, Montego Bay
In 2003, Young at Art was commissioned to paint a dyptich mural for Doctor's Cave Bathing Club in Montego Bay, Jamaica. A teenage group were studying endangered animals of Jamaica at the time, so they were happy to take on the challenge of painting on two big boards! They are now on display in the Members' Lounge where they are much admired.
Magazine Features
In 2001 and 2002 Young at Art was featured in two magazines, Air Jamaica's in-flight magazine SkyWritings, and the international travel magazine Caribbean Travel and Life. Keron, who's self-portrait graced the cover of SkyWritings, was a resident at the Salvation Army's Hanbury Home in Manchester, and was 14 at the time of the magazine being published.
Stephanie's Place
In the summer of 2010, an ex-student and her friends spent some time during their summer holiday painting a mural for a small school built by Food for the Poor.
The mural honors a young woman named Stephanie, who tragically lost her life in the Haitian earthquake at the beginning of that same year. The school is called Stephanie's Place, and was donated and built by her family as a gift to Jamaica.
Exhibitions
The first exibition was held in Mandeville, in the Bloomfield Great House, with just two rooms hanging the work of a handful of young children. Nothing was for sale; it was a simple gathering of proud families, their kids, and a few friends. The work was so lovely, however, that people started buying them up and demanding more. The following year, with more students on board, we framed properly and hung the show to sell and raise money for a local orphanage. It was a big success, and for the next few years the show grew, with people coming from all over Jamaica, and abroad, to attend and buy this beautiful art!
Fiona Godfrey moved to Kingston in 2004 and slowly began with a new crop of students, teaching adults as well as children in response to demand.
The first Kingston show was held in 2008; click on the invitation below for a sampling.
The exhibitions continue annually.