A passion for children's mental health, education and art has led a local artist to develop art classes to help kids foster confidence, sense of self and community.
Rae Wright, the owner of Rae Wright Artistry, is a portrait artist and educator. Once a photography business, Wright now offers custom paintings, DIY kits and art classes for events, schools and families. Since 2015, Wright has been teaching art classes in Guelph for parents and kids to help build kids up and teach parents how to foster their child's interest.
“I’ve taught over 4,500 people, which is just bonkers to me," Wright said about her work in Guelph, "and a lot of them were sessions with adults and children together.”
Growing up in a large family, Wright said she felt a draw toward education and in Grade 11, participated in an after school program to teach children about creative writing. It was through this after school program that she began to develop the base for her current business.
"I was partnered to do a writing program with elementary school children, which prompted me starting the art business I’m doing, and so it all just came together," said Wright, “and then working in this program and teaching these children, kind of fostered my love of working with children and when it came time to study post secondary education, I chose to study education over art.”
Having an arts background, Wright said art and education went hand-in-hand when it came to teaching very young children. When Wright started offering arts lessons, she became interested in studying children's mental health.
She then found a study about children and art which would go on influence her style of teaching.
“It was a study that was done that proved that there was a link, a correlation, between children who are engaging art exploration with a trusted adult, and their emotional confidence, their social skills, they have a stronger sense of self and community, and this all came about because they were exploring art with a trusted adult,” said Wright.
“And it was really fascinating to me, learning about this whole thing, and I thought, ‘How can I incorporate that into my teaching?’”
Putting parents and kids together for an art class also has another benefit for children. When kids reach a certain age, like 9 or 10, Wright explains they tend to develop a hesitancy while exploring new passions, like creating art.
“You start to see that hesitancy about not wanting people to look at their painting while they’re working on it, and I tell them, ‘It’s not about what their painting looks like right now, art is a process,'" she said. “It’s a lot about building these kids up, and that’s why it’s important to have the parents there while this interaction is happening, so they can see how to engage with their children’s interest."
When teaching her classes in schools, Wright said she explains to students that everyone's painting is unique to foster self-identity and sense of community.
“We would see these kids leaving the program with these big ol’ grins on their faces and it was fantastic," she said about teaching art in different schools.
By providing art classes to families and schools, the experience has also helped Wright to connect with the community after moving to Guelph years ago.
“It was really interesting because now I know so many people from different schools, from different charities, even just random people walking down the street," said Wright. "It's really cute because sometimes I even have little kids who are walking down the street, stop and say, 'Hey! You're the painting lady!'"
Due to the pandemic, Wright said she is no longer teaching classes in person, but launched a YouTube channel last year to offer online tutorials. For the past two months, she has been offering three videos a week for adults and children to follow along with.
“I’m uploading three videos a week, three tutorials, where two are about drawing, one is about painting, and they’re all centred around the Ontario Arts curriculum,” said Wright.
Her reason for offering tutorials online was to provide access to those who couldn’t afford classes. Currently, Wright uses subscription membership fees to help support the videos.
“I had so many messages from families who were hit by COVID, and telling me they couldn't afford to do it, and I said, 'I'm going to make it easier for you guys, I'm going to put it on YouTube,'" said Wright.
Along with her classes, Wright is also gearing up for the annual Community Heart event, which launches on Nov. 14. The sale allows for artists to showcase and sell their work while allowing for some of the proceeds to go to a charity of their choice.
Wright said she has supported numerous charities through Community Heart, including the Salvation Army which is where she worked as a nursery teacher. This year, Wright plans on donating a portion of her profits to Sunshine Therapeutic Riding and Learning Centre.
“It’s just something that I started getting involved with when I moved here, because I didn’t know anything about Guelph, I did it as kind of a way to learn about Guelph and what kind of supports they have to offer the community,” said Wright. “From doing that, I was able to meet some amazing people.”
Those interested in learning more about Rae Wright Artistry, or to check out her YouTube channel, can go to raewrightartistry.ca.
