One Sunday afternoon of November, I was bearing witness to Transformative power of art and poetry

Last Sunday afternoon, a deep sense of catharsis took place among participants at Kids & Art workshop, where they learned to weave beauty of words into their artwork. Kids & Art founder, Purvi Shah warmly greeted the workshop participants as she explained this especially unique process of combining poetry with artwork.  Participants worked solo, pairs/couples, and as families to incorporate words and poetry onto their canvas awash with colors and images.  With an expert guidance from local artists, Patty Owyang, Helen Cole Lew and featured artist & Poet, Silvi Alcivar, participants were inspired to find their inner poet as the creative process of weaving words into art took its natural organic course.  

Through her own experience, Purvi Shah knows how engaging in creative activity provides an avenue to explore its therapeutic, healing benefits.  Indeed, the workshop provided that safe and nurturing space where participants became artists and poets, becoming deeply engrossed in creating a piece that paid tribute to their loved ones. The Kids & Art workshop is not only comforting and educational but inspiring in harnessing the negative but real emotions of grief into positive, creative healing energy as the budding artists and poets were given the permission to let their imagination flow.  With tools, techniques and support, they were given the license to beautifully pay tribute for their loved ones.  It was not about losing someone you love; it was about gaining the knowledge that the loved one is never lost.  

With a child-like sense of wonder and delight, participants learned to type on a typewriter, draw, paint, cut and paste words that resonated with them and created a one of a kind artwork quite priceless.  The afternoon was filled with joy and new sense of discovery that indeed, “we are all artists & poets within; we just didn’t know it”.  The workshop allowed such untapped talents to shine, positive creative energy was felt by all.

About Kids & Art & their workshops

Our mission is about empowerment, encouragement and creating memorable experiences. Kids & Art teams up children touched by cancer, their siblings, parents and caregivers with local artists. We provide them a safe place to enjoy an empowering experience, creating beautiful works of art that are auctioned off to raise money for cancer research and to continue funding the Kids & Art program.  In addition to delivering Art care packages to children and their families who are in the hospital, we create a foundation of support by providing regular art sessions, guided meditations and breathing exercises for the child and their care circle.

This lovely workshop was held at the site of Redwood City Art Center, a vibrant local artists’ coop studio; K&A hosts workshops at various locations in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley.  Their past workshop locations included Pixar Animation Art Room, DreamWorks Studio and The Ronald McDonald House in Palo Alto.  Please contact Purvi Shah for any location ideas and suggestions.

For more inspirations, visit their link www.kidsandart.org:  Children with cancer making a difference.  Kids & Art Foundation is a 501(c)3 California nonprofit organization.

Kids & Art hosts art workshops for families with children touched by cancer.

For upcoming workshops, http://www.kidsandart.org/ka-days/

About Featured artist, Silvi Alvivar:  In the last three years, Silvi, The Poetry Store poet, has written and sold thousands of poems throughout the Bay Area and beyond (including Antarctica!). In addition to creating on-the-spot poems, Silvi’s one-of-a-kind artwork has shown at Secession Art & Design, Collector Gallery, Femina Potens Gallery, SOMArts Ramp Gallery, The Goods Gallery, Philz Coffee, La Boutique, and Steelgrass Farm in Kauai.

Silvi provided a whimsical and yet mindful space with her typewriters, guiding all budding artists on the use of typewriters and in the art of turning feelings into words… Some participants came with readied quotes, some created their own poetry – each brainstorming in the creative spirit Silvi lights up.

Reported by K. Tsuyama:  she can be contacted via her blog http://wagayoga.com/blog/