Charlotte Pettigrew
Prayer requests:
- We've had a tough season of financial funding. Pray we would find new funding sources to sustain our work
- Pray for a family we have been working with for 10 years who've lost their second sister in 9 months, leaving behind 5 kids.
- We're in an exciting season of transitioning older participants into volunteer roles as they age out. Pray for direction and new youth as we look to build a community of new younger youth again
Some recent quotes:
“Creative life is a space which is supportive and makes me feel like I belong even on my first day being there! Creative Life makes it easy to do a lot of different creative stuff that would be otherwise hard for me to do on my own!”
“Creative Life changed my life. When I started coming, my art was ok, but having this space where I could really spend time with it helped me grow as an artist. The workshops were so awesome! We did all these things I never thought of or even knew you could do before, and all of those new things I was learning shaped my art. ”
Some recent stories:
1. Merry Fishmas
“I love art because when I do art, I get to play. It’s this space where I just get to be myself and be a kid, and in my childhood I didn’t really have that space.” —Participant
At Creative Life we love that art is low-barrier and gets us to work together. As staff and volunteers it takes away the power dynamic that non-profit work can sometimes bring. Instead, we are learning together, learning from each another, creating alongside one another, and for youth on the margins this can be powerful and dignifying, and as staff and volunteers we are invited into transformation ourselves.
Last month, we had a guest artist, Margaret Cottle, a very experienced professional calligrapher, visit us for a calligraphy workshop. One of our young creatives had specifically requested a workshop to learn calligraphy, and getting to learn from Margaret and even sit down one-on-one with her to learn about some of the techniques, strokes and parts of a letter-form felt like a gift.
A couple of new youth also showed up from one of the shelters where we’d put our poster, looking a little punk and perhaps not exactly the type to enjoy a calligraphy workshop (one of them said their favourite subject to paint was “horror”). But as Margaret flipped the pages of her portfolio, they had compliments to share for almost every piece.
“Wow, that looks really technical!”
“That must have taken a long time!”
“Aw, that is adorable!”
And when she came to the end of her book, “I feel really inspired now!”
When it was time for them to try it out themselves, one of them came up with an alphabet made of fish doing ballet poses.
“You should make a card that says, ‘Merry Fishmas!’” Margaret suggested.
“Yeah! Totally, that’s perfect,” the youth replied, “Im going to write that down so I don’t forget!” and quickly jotted down a note for later.
“I am a dog person, and I have a similar kind of alphabet hanging on the wall at my house, but with black labs in different poses,” Margaret shared.
It was a night of surprising connections and unexpected common interests, mutual creative encouragement, and a great reminder of why we bring people together in this way.
2. "I think she needs some eyelashes!"
One of the youth said at Art in the Park on a lazy afternoon. A watercolour painting of a frog slowly turned into a lounging beach babe as the afternoon went on, as each person added something new--a beach towel, umbrella, bikini, and lipstick completed the scene. The frog was clearly enjoying a level of relaxation that the youth painting her did not have in her own life at the moment as she sought to move into a new housing situation. It was a gift to spend a long, slow afternoon of painting together, when home is so chaotic and hard. As the afternoon wore on, youth started decorating and writing letters of appreciation to friends and staff who they are thankful for. As my coworker helped a youth with some paperwork and listened to her share about her tough situation at home, another youth made her a note: Sarah is the best!
Relationships with the people on our team offer a level of security and peace that doesn't exist in other parts of their lives.