Jul 18, 2008 3:43 pm US/Eastern
Fire Teaches Young Artists An Important Lesson
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
Hundreds of artists will head to Artscape this weekend to sell pieces of their work, art which has taken them months to make.
One group of artists nearly lost their chance to display their work and leave their mark.
Mike Schuh reports on a group of young artists whose dreams of expressing themselves almost went up in flames.
Artscape is a tradition for the young people from East Baltimore who, as part of a summer jobs program, spend their days making art for the festival.
"In the end when we're done all the work, we gonna sell it," said Seth Stern, one of the artists.
Last year, they even made enough money for members of the group and their parents to take a trip to New York City.
That wasn't a typical experience, but neither is the program designed to develop students' art skills, their self-confidence and their leadership abilities.
The student's teacher constantly tries to challenge them to grow.
"I want to be able to depend on you," said Shelly Porter, Art With Heart teacher.
The program was going well until the students faced an unexpected challenge: a fire at Dunbar Junior High School, which destroyed their work.
The fire was put out but the event dampened the young artists' spirits.
"Well, now we don't have anything to sell at Artscape," said Marcus Harrison, a young artist.
In some cases, the students have had to start over. While painful to have had some of their work destroyed, the experience taught them a valuable lesson.
"The most valuable thing I learned in this program is that if something unexpected happens just to keep going," said Stern.
They haven't replaced every piece, but they've done enough.
"I think they really learn to believe in themselves and are surprised at what they can accomplish," said Porter.
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