What happens when you take thirteen youth, one professional artist, a statue in need of a little love and mix in five days with sandpaper, a lot of paint, art supplies and a mission? You get a beautifully restored work of art and a group of teenagers who not only gave a great gift to the community, but also took a personal piece of inspiration home for themselves, their families and friends.

See the Art in Me is a life size metal sculpture created in 2004 by Project Jericho youth and local artist Jack Mann. It symbolizes the connection of Art to both the individual and the community with a creative composition of silhouetted figures engaged with one another and their implements of art. Over the years, the weather had certainly worn on the structure itself, but the ideals behind it can never gather rust as long as people seek outlets for their ideas and imagination. “Art you can do anything with” says student participant Dan Kemp of the new Springfield High School, and See the Art in Me certainly embodies this concept. Professional artist Keith Skogstrom provided his experience and direction to everyone involved over five days of taping, sanding and lots and lots of painting. Now this inspirational work can continue to broadcast its bright message with a fresh protective coating thanks to Keith and the participants from Project Jericho!

But that’s not all. Over the five days of work, all of the youth had the opportunity to develop and produce their own miniature sculptures inspired by “See the Art in Me” and themselves! With the help of Keith and a fresh batch of brand new sketch books, the participants explored the idea of sketching the world around them, the principles of contour drawing and 3-D composition. They each chose four of their sketches and converted them to outlines. Then they used the outlines as patterns to create cutouts which they ultimately painted and assembled into their own abstract freestanding sculptures. One youth participant, Anthony S, an avid biker, skateboarder and rollerblader, even provided an artist’s statement along with his work of art. “The reason I made this is for the love of art. Some of you may think this is a bad sculpture, some of you may think it is a good one. But I think it is good.”

To view the young men and women at work, as well as their finished personal sculptures, click to check out the photos page and art gallery sections of our media page. Congratulations to all of the youth involved for a job well done and their dedication to the exploration of art, personal creativity and ways to help improve their community!