Students in the National Art Honors Society (NAHS) are making portraits to bring hope and kindness to kids around the world. The portraits are currently being made by 22 students with NAHS, and are planned to be sent out in May. They are being created through an organization called The Memory Project.
Each NAHS artist is matched with a child for whom they create a portrait. The portrait contains either the child, or “identity art,” which follows a theme of something the child enjoys, alongside their name, and three positive words they use to describe themselves.
NAHS President and senior Maren Petersen believes these portraits foster a positive mood and emotional health benefits among the children in rough circumstances.
“It’s mainly a way to boost mental health!” said Petersen. “The children – no matter the country – are going through an incredibly tough time in their lives. No matter how cliché it might seem, a little bit of color often means a little bit of happiness, and the knowledge that another person sees them for who they are can help immensely.”
Each portrait is accompanied with a special note from the artist to help create a connection between the subject and the artist.
Sponsor of NAHS Mrs. Laurie Wilks expressed how NAHS can help students get involved in world issues with their art and help others in the process.
“With having our students think of [not only our] community, [but] more globally of ‘what can we do?’ especially right now, it can feel really overwhelming when things are kind of dark and stressful and there’s so much going wrong with the world,” said Wilks. “We are using our hearts as artists to reach out and provide some level of comfort or a connection with another person. That makes a huge difference.”
Memory Project founder Ben Schumaker, was inspired to start this program back in 2004, after he realized that kids in orphanages have an emotional need to have a keepsake of their childhood, especially when in difficult situations.
His goal was to provide heartwarming, handmade portraits to children in orphanages so they can have a special memory. His vision has now grown to creating a kinder world through art for children in all types of circumstances so they know that people, even those far away, care about them.
“We aim to help youth around the world see the commonalities they share and feel a connection to each other,” said Schumacher. “We want the portraits to build feelings of kindness and friendship. That’s a benefit for both the art students who create the artwork and the children who receive it.”
Peterson reflected a sentiment similar to Schumacher’s about the power of the portraits.
“The portraits may not fill bellies, but people often forget the sheer power of morale,” said Petersen. “It’s the difference between just surviving, and actually living freely and joyously.”
