We only have one class left tomorrow and celebration with the artists on Friday. It feels like there is a leak in time and it just gets faster and faster.
At St. Al's, class was wonderful and the art that is being created is exciting and engaging and not traditional to what we have seen in the past. We have always encouraged our artists to tell their story and they have perfected this. It ends up being their major focus. To move them into more free form art, we have asked them to paint more freely, work that is both abstract and available for interpretation has been encouraged and returned good results. The sculpture has added a dimension to how they look at their art and it shows up in some cool, not so obvious outcomes in the work. We had a great session that was cut short by about a half hour as we rallied the class to get on the bus and go to the Kuona Trust to see an installation piece called "the woman's vote" by Maryann Muthoni.
All gathered onto the bus and then we were off to The Kuona trust. The Kuona trust is special to us and the students of St. Al's. It's a home away from St. Al's for our artists and have always felt very welcomed there. The last two years our students have had exhibits. Last years was "Landscapes of the mind". Because of the exhibit Maryann had going, we were unable to show. This provided us an opportunity to bring the students for an artist talk between her and the students. They loved her and she was so engaging as is her exhibit. Her exhibit focuses on the importance of the woman's vote and perceptions and feelings about woman as voters, leaders, etc. Our students were engaged considering how timely this is with the vote happening next year. The students were vocal about their point of view and they definitely shared points of views that brought on rich discussion which is exactly what Maryann hoped this installation would achieve and it did with our students. The students also walked around the trust to visit with the other resident artists and see them creating art, ask questions and make connections. Renee Mboya, Programme Manager and Sylvia Gichia, Kuona Trust Director, have been amazingly supportive of our connection and Renee was amazing as a facilitator with the discussion and the installation. What a rewarding day for us, our students and the Kuona trust. They do good work and the Art in Kibera program hopes to continue to partner with Kuono to provide art to our students and others in Kibera. The world continues to be a very small place. My Kenyan Sister, Anne Wangari, is very dear family friends with Maryann Muthoni and family and we realized this when I told Anne about the exhibit. Today I shared pictures with Maryann and she said to me, Wow, I've been to their home you are showing me....Small World.
Today we had another bit of Great News. One of our graduates who was unable to be part of yesterday's graduate institute, Jacob Kikoyo, was at a meeting..... This meeting proved to be very successful because today he returned to class with an acceptance letter from the BuruBuru Institute of Fine Art, welcoming him to the school and their art programme. So exciting to think of one of our students who has been with us for five years is going to art school. We could not be more proud and excited.
Our days fly by so quickly and then you realize you are packing your bags to return home. Each year this experience grows and has a very different feel from year to year. What a great thing to see our students develop, grow, prosper and move on. Its hard to leave them, its hard to know that you do not know what each one is doing or are able to keep track of each one, so we are so grateful to be able to have the connections we have with them as they are in school and especially when them move on and we can keep in touch.
Thank you for being part of this journey with us.
Be well,
Charles and Margaret
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