April 29, 2026

“Look! I drew a Target Store!” A nine-year-old girl showed me her round canvas painted over with paint sticks and markers, the stable Target red peering from behind collage pieces and glitter pasted over each other. She looked so proud, and I couldn’t help but smile back at the student who had come in for a school tour and was walking out with an eclectic picture of her favorite Target store. Over the last few weeks, I have been fortunate enough to lead a series of K-12 programs for the Wellin Museum of Art. I have been a docent for almost three years, an experience that has been incredibly rewarding and insightful. I have done everything from leading tours to reorganizing reference books in our library to making written clay tablets in different shapes and sizes. From all of those diverse endeavors, I must say that the best part has been organizing and working with K-12 programs. 

Our K-12 school visits this year have been modelled around Jamea Richmond Edwards’s exhibition, which is as colorful and fun as can be. Given the nature of Jamea’s exhibition (as we affectionately call the artist, whom many of my co-workers know personally), the accompanying activity for students surrounding her artworks had to match her dynamism and life. That is how the team at the Wellin came up with the genius idea of having students layer different types of materials over an oval or round canvas, mimicking Jamea’s artistic process of combining collage, painting, and other materials in her work. Of course, this activity had its share of mysticism; before beginning their projects, the children would be instructed to imagine their favorite place, real or fictional, through a guided meditation led by one of the docents. During the following weeks, we invited a wide range  of students from grade school to high school to close their eyes after a gallery tour, and imagine their favorite place. 

The result of this activity was beyond anything I had imagined. Many of our programs took place during the winter, which probably explained why so many children drew luscious beaches, palm trees, sunny skies, and ocean waves. However, that was not all they created. Several story houses with colorful walls, open prairies showered with stars, family dogs, car parts factories, and Disneyland were among the many other places that flooded the canvases we gave them. The glitter seemed to be everywhere, from adorning a forest’s trees to embellishing a German flag. When I finally got a hold of a canvas, after being curious to try the activity myself, I drew my college dorm. My creativity was fully surpassed by dozens of students at least half a decade younger than me. 

What I love the most about K-12 is how much you can learn about the students themselves through art. Their depictions of their favorite places were intricately related to their experiences, likes and dislikes, as well as interests and age. There was not a single program in which we did not discover a new place. As a college student, it is easy to sometimes feel isolated from the non-educational life outside of the boundaries of Hamilton’s campus. Through the Wellin’s K-12 programs, I have found myself connecting with the broader Clinton community, something I am very grateful for. With the year coming to an end, I am looking forward to taking part in these programs again next year, and maybe making a visit to Target, to see if it can become my favorite place too.