The words vary from the positive including warmth, rainbows and energetic to thoughtful such as hidden, transformation and becoming, while others echo the reality of the current climate like solitude, vacant and listen.
“We as a team wanted to figure out how we could stay connected to our participants during social distancing so we decided to start posting videos that might give them some ideas on how to be creative using things they have at home. This is where the #PJArtFromApart hashtag started,” said Donna Hill, Project Jericho outreach assistant.
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Knowing it was important for their families to stay in contact, Hill, manager Lauren Houser and success coordinator Kristi Limes are creating individual videos with encouraging messages and ideas for various art projects. Hill even created her first video for the TikTok social media platform that is hot right now, especially with young people.
The staff reached out to its various teaching artists and collaborators for a word and were excited to participate.
“Our hope is that people will be inspired to be creative during this isolating time, and connect with one another through the posts throughout the month,” Hill said.
The artists are limited only by their imagination, whether they want the daily word expressed through a drawing, a song, painting a picture, creating a collage, crafting a poem or something else.
Photos of some works may be posted to Facebook, while others may be personal to the artist, Limes said, but what counts is the process more so than the product.
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“We value everyone’s approach and will continue to offer videos that allow us to connect with our families,” she said.
The hope is when the challenge concludes that won’t be the end. Hill said Project Jericho would like to host a celebration showcasing the art created by the participants at some point, so that it’s a reminder of these days, no matter how bleak seemed that positives came out of them.
Project Jericho will continue connecting with its participants who are quarantining for as long as it lasts.
To see the words and some of the art that results, go to www.facebook.com/ProjectJerichoArt/.
Project Jericho is a program of Clark State Community College supported through funding from Clark County Department of Job and Family Services, the Ohio Arts Council, The Turner Foundation, Clark County Juvenile Court and private contributions.
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