A new local art show makes it clear that you are never too young to make a change.
A total of 24 Ukrainian kids, aged between five and 15, have brought out a series of art works to help out their home country.
At the ongoing Ukraine Child and Youth Art fundraiser, the art pieces will be auctioned off to support two charities — Saved Schools and Voice of Children Ukraine — and a school for children with disabilities in Ukraine (the organizations were chosen by the children themselves).
This initiative was possible, thanks to Art and SEL (Social Emotional Learning) — a program for children who have experienced trauma and are transitioning as refugees and/or through immigration — launched by Helena Friesen in October 2022.
Art and SEL blends art with social emotional learning, she said.
What pushed Friesen, who has a background in health sciences and education (with a specialization in kindergarten), to develop the program was a "traumatic" car accident.
"The outcome of such event led me to work with various health professionals and work on an independent training in SEL with the RULER approach (an evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence)."
Friesen had been researching social emotional learning for several years prior to starting the Art and SEL program. She had observed that the learning helped children enjoy “the sense of community and taking care of one another"; it made them more calm and more accepting of a range of emotions, she explained.
She wanted to introduce it to the kids of war immigrants.
Since the beginning of the Ukraine-Russia war in 2022, more than 160,000 people have landed in Canada through the country’s emergency travel program. Locally, the Holy Eucharist Cathedral saw an influx of refugees and was seeking to hire someone for the position of a counsellor, Friesen said.
She proposed the idea of her program for kids, and got the go-ahead from Father Mykhailo Ozorovych, the pastor of Holy Eucharist Cathedral.
While many other volunteer organizations were focusing on providing the basic needs of food, shelter and jobs for new immigrants, Friesen wanted to tackle the question: what would a child who just moved countries need?
Art and healing
Art and SEL started off as an after-school program at the church; as part of it, kids were encouraged to pour out their creativity on paper.
Friesen had support from United Way BC, United Way — Love for Ukraine, and the Holy Eucharist Cathedral, which allowed the use of the church building for the program for free; the expenses otherwise would have amounted to thousands of dollars, she added.
She also had support from the students' parents/guardians and Ukrainian teacher Oksana Honcharuk to make the program a success.
“Ukraine is so artistic, and I don’t think this is talked about enough, or maybe it’s that they are so humble about it, but these children were very comfortable with art materials right away, and many of them painted far better than I can,” she said.
For Friesen, the journey was “inspiring.” But also a bit “hard” to discover what the children had been through.
“It's hard to see a little child make pictures of a war,” she said.
She observed them use red and black colours, which she later learned were the colours of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. She saw recurring motifs of wolves in the drawings — at first, Friesen thought the kids were just painting their favourite animal, but later realized that it represented the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces.
“But I saw the power of art being therapeutic, in terms of really calming a child and watching children become more kind of rested.”
Now, all the works done by the kids over the last eight months are on display for the public.
“When you see their art in person, it is so easy to see how generous they are, the art just pulls you in with its desire to share and connect, and just a passion to spread hope to the world," she said.
“Looking at the spirit of these children, I think, Ukraine’s children will make sure to keep Ukraine alive and well — always.”
The artworks are priced between $25 and $250. All the works are up for bidding. The winning bids on the artworks will be announced on the last day of the show on Sunday, July 2, at Arrieta Art Gallery, 707 Front St., between 6 and 9 p.m. You can donate to the Art and SEL program at Holy Eucharist Cathedral, directly through the church (note on the donation that it is for the Art and SEL program).
