Transforming Trash Into Art: A Reflection on the I Dream to Be Creative Meet Up Read Up

“Paint the world!”

These are the words spoken to Tyree Guyton by his grandfather. As a child, he was a daydreamer, who didn’t know what he wanted to be when he grew up. However, one day, his grandfather opened his mind to his future dream through a simple act — handing him a paint brush. This experience inspired him to begin a journey of re-purposing trash and transforming it into art.

For the second Meet Up Read Up in the I Dream to Be Tour, The Young Dreamers Book Club hosted an event based on the theme of creativity. Our goal was to provide amazing books to inspire children to discover or re-discover their ability to create beauty in the world. In addition, the books were biographies of artists who looked at the things in their environment and made works of art of them.

The first book read Art from the Heart was biography a woman named Clementine Hunter, who made amazing art in spite of her enslavement.

The last book read was about Tyree Guyton an artist who transformed trash in his community into art, which inspired his community to unite and become stronger. The lived experiences captured by the authors in these biographies of artists illuminated the importance of creativity in assisting in the development of a better more beautiful world.

The second part of the Meet Up Read Up allowed children to make art out of trash. Children’s Senior Library Caralee Sommerer lead an activity where children painted clean trash. This fun activity allowed children and adults to engaged in an inter-generational dialogue about the importance of art and creativity. When the program ended, the inter-generational art was on display in the East Liberty’s children’s library section. Here is some of the artwork made by children of all ages.

Special thanks to Caralee Sommerer for co-planning and providing the materials for this event!

Don’t forget to join us for our next event August 15, 2018. The theme is I Dream to Be Entrepreneurial! See you there.

Note:

The I Dream to Be Reading Tour offers interactive learning experiences that inspire children to develop a love of reading and awareness of their dreams. Dreaming is a holistic process where children learn to be: confident, creative, entrepreneurial, and academically excellent. The Tour took place June and July and will continue in the months of August, and September.