CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- "I am wonderful. My art is amazing. We are great. I deserve all good things in life."
Those four simple sentences are the positive mantra that local lawyer and artist Deborah McHenry has turned into figurative rules at her local ArtWorks classes at the Roosevelt Community Center on Charleston's East End, where no one is allowed to be self-deprecating or say 'I cant.'
"One day I came in and wrote 'I can't' in big letters on the chalkboard," she said. "Then I took this big, oversized piece of red sidewalk chalk and really dramatically scribbled all over it.
"The kids were shocked ... I said that phrase was banned from class."
McHenry's feel-good, do-good attitude is the driving force behind the weekly outreach program that lets community children express their creative side through artwork during a two-hour class on Wednesday nights.
"I know it seems silly. And it seems naïve, but words have power," she said. "If you shout 'I am wonderful' loud enough, you get to hear it, you feel it [in your heart] then maybe, you'll get to believe it."
Starting a community art program wasn't something McHenry always imagined she would do. She felt compelled to act after 17-year-old Chase Miller was shot and killed in August 2007 just around the corner from the Roosevelt Center.
McHenry said attending Miller's memorial service days after he was killed on what would have been his 18th birthday was a changing point in her life.
"I felt like I couldn't drive out of that neighborhood and not do anything to help," she said.
McHenry originally proposed the ArtWorks class as a five-week project in conjunction with the East End Family Resource Center. She has now been at the center for almost two years. "I love it," she said.
McHenry remembers one time when she got called into the office of the Rev. Lloyd A. Hill, a community activist who oversees many of the programs at the Roosevelt Center.
"I felt like I got called into the principal's office, but he said, 'Young lady, I don't know who you are or where your funding came from, but you'd better not leave because these kids love what you're doing.'"
McHenry kept going. The funding still comes from her own pocket. The class, which was originally held in a poorly lit room, has moved, though.
Mayor Danny Jones approached McHenry about ArtWorks to see what the city could do to help the program.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- "I am wonderful. My art is amazing. We are great. I deserve all good things in life."
Those four simple sentences are the positive mantra that local lawyer and artist Deborah McHenry has turned into figurative rules at her local ArtWorks classes at the Roosevelt Community Center on Charleston's East End, where no one is allowed to be self-deprecating or say 'I cant.'
"One day I came in and wrote 'I can't' in big letters on the chalkboard," she said. "Then I took this big, oversized piece of red sidewalk chalk and really dramatically scribbled all over it.
"The kids were shocked ... I said that phrase was banned from class."
McHenry's feel-good, do-good attitude is the driving force behind the weekly outreach program that lets community children express their creative side through artwork during a two-hour class on Wednesday nights.
"I know it seems silly. And it seems naïve, but words have power," she said. "If you shout 'I am wonderful' loud enough, you get to hear it, you feel it [in your heart] then maybe, you'll get to believe it."
Starting a community art program wasn't something McHenry always imagined she would do. She felt compelled to act after 17-year-old Chase Miller was shot and killed in August 2007 just around the corner from the Roosevelt Center.
McHenry said attending Miller's memorial service days after he was killed on what would have been his 18th birthday was a changing point in her life.
"I felt like I couldn't drive out of that neighborhood and not do anything to help," she said.
McHenry originally proposed the ArtWorks class as a five-week project in conjunction with the East End Family Resource Center. She has now been at the center for almost two years. "I love it," she said.
McHenry remembers one time when she got called into the office of the Rev. Lloyd A. Hill, a community activist who oversees many of the programs at the Roosevelt Center.
"I felt like I got called into the principal's office, but he said, 'Young lady, I don't know who you are or where your funding came from, but you'd better not leave because these kids love what you're doing.'"
McHenry kept going. The funding still comes from her own pocket. The class, which was originally held in a poorly lit room, has moved, though.
Mayor Danny Jones approached McHenry about ArtWorks to see what the city could do to help the program.
"I said all I want is a clean, well-lit room."
And that's just what she got on the third floor of the Roosevelt Center, in addition to 15 individual art tables for her students.
"That day, one of my students walked in, looked around the room and said, 'We are blessed. We must be so blessed,'" she remembered.
While the art classes mean something different to each student who seeks solace in the weekly painting projects, the thankfulness for McHenry's community involvement is unanimous.
"It's a good thing she takes time out of her day to do this," said 11-year-old Tanesia Stokes.
Eleven-year-old Shalor Gore said McHenry's art classes give the local kids more opportunities.
"It's nice of her for even starting this thing," he said. "It takes away from us going to do anything bad."
Octarra Holman, a 12-year-old who goes to Horace Mann Middle School, said the art classes, and McHenry, have changed her mindset about life.
"Miss Debby always tells us that we can do anything we want," she said. "I want to do the best I can do in the world, and nothing less."
To celebrate a creative session, McHenry buys pizza for the entire class and lets them eat while each student's artwork is matted and framed. They get to take home the artwork they created. McHenry has also offered the kids an opportunity to showcase their work elsewhere.
For the second year in a row, McHenry's ArtWorks students will have a public art exhibit at the Art Emporium in downtown Charleston on Jan. 18, with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m.
"We just can't wait," she said.
McHenry firmly believes that her art class can change the world and shape the youngsters' lives, but said that more people need to get involved and volunteer across the community.
"We can't feel that because we do public services work as our job that you can accept that as your contribution," she said. "It needs to be beyond your paycheck and outside of your comfort zone to count."
Reach Kathryn Gregory at kathr...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5119.
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