Student, faculty and alumni artwork from the George Washington University's Art Therapy Program
Summer exhibit
Storycloth class is a summer elective where students learn about narrative textiles as an art therapy intervention. This class focuses on traditional storycloths and the healing aspects of creating with hand stitching and fabric. This summer’s storycloths depict personal stories, fairytales, and stories from current events.
We were very excited that our summer exhibit would be works from Life Pieces to Masterpieces, and we started planning early in the spring, of course expecting the paintings to line the walls of the Art Therapy Gallery in Alexandria, VA. Needless to say, an in-person exhibit could not happen. Instead, we are presenting this powerful work virtually.
Life Pieces To Masterpieces (LPTM/Life Pieces) is a mentoring and youth development organization that uses artistic expression to develop character and leadership, unlock innate potential, and prepare African American boys and young men to transform their lives and communities. Our vision is that LPTM gentlemen will be catalysts for positive change in their communities and the world. LPTM currently serves 70 boys from age three to young adulthood living in some of D.C.’s poorest and most volatile neighborhoods in Ward 7 and Ward 8, through after-school, Saturday, and summer programming. In an area of the nation’s capital where the rate of public high school graduation for “at-risk” youth is only 58%, 100% of the boys who participate in Life Pieces through their senior year graduate from high school. Nearly all enroll in college or other post-secondary career training.
Students at Drew Elementary, the school that is home to LPTM, are, according to the DC Public Schools website, 99% Black and 100% economically disadvantaged, i.e. eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Program. Access to positive male role models is limited by the fact that 71% of the families in the service area are headed by single mothers.
Since 1996, rather than focusing on the deficits in the environment our youth come from, LPTM has asked questions about the environment we can create together. What happens when a boy grows up surrounded by love, security, and expression? What happens when he has a safe, loving place to go to every day after school? What happens when he builds his academic and social skills while surrounded by people who care about him? Where he learns that it’s okay to express his emotions? Where he learns how to be a leader? What happens when he discovers his brilliance and creativity each day?
LPTM has helped our young men with scholastic achievement, college readiness, conflict-resolution, positive community involvement, and most importantly, confidence in who they are as young black men. A 2016-17 evaluation by Stillmeadow Benchmark Associates, Inc. found greater than 90% of the Apprentices improved reading and math grades. Over 90% of parents observed their sons to be more confident and better decision-makers. As the boys age through the programs they participate in workshops preparing them to become mentors who can then assist the younger members. They not only benefit from the opportunities of the program, but turn right around to help other boys learn, grow, and see positive male role models in their lives.
For more than two decades, the overarching objective of all of LPTM’s programming has been to foster the creative, academic, social-emotional, physical and citizenship development of the young men and boys engaged in LPTM. The result is documented evidence of improvements in mental health, academic performance, self-awareness, positive male relationships, and civic & social ability – which in turn help our boys and young men to believe in their ability to positively impact their own lives, their community and ultimately the world they live in.
Seneca Wells (Artistic Director)
swells@lifepieces.org
Donnell Kie ( Art by LPTM Coordinator)
dkie@lifepieces.org