A Jungle Story

Katherine O’Connor wanted to teach vulnerable youth how to appreciate art. Since she coordinates family programs through the education department at the Getty Museum, she wanted to share her love of the visual arts. “My experience with art helped shape who I am today. It is empowering, liberating, an outlet for self-expression, and is fun -- qualities that everyone needs,” she said.

We referred Katherine to Star View Adolescent Center in Torrance. This residential psychiatric health facility is home to 56 severely emotionally-disturbed youngsters ages 12-17 who have been abused, neglected, abandoned and orphaned. Dale Young, the Director of Group Services, was grateful for our free arts workshop. She asked Katherine to help ten of their girls to create a mural in their group therapy room.

Since Katherine had never mentored nor created a mural before, she called on Create Now to get some guidance. We gave her training in how to work with these high-risk youth and shared our California Content Standards curricula for our “Create a Mural Now” workshop. Our staff also introduced her to mentor/muralist Roger Dolin, who gave her some tips. We supplied her with paint, brushes, tarps and all of the materials that she needed.

The foster girls selected to participate in the mural workshop usually have a difficult time getting along. Cooperation and teamwork are generally absent. Yet Katherine rallied her students to come up with a theme and they all decided that a “jungle” would be perfect. Katherine said, “One of the challenges set out in the beginning was to get the girls to work together, but that was never a problem. The enthusiasm engendered by the girls for this project was amazing and I am so proud to have worked with them.”

Dale said, “I noticed that the kids working on the mural were able to participate in different parts of the project without any difficulty. This does not usually occur with this group who are intent on having complete control over what they do. It was an indication of the care that Katherine took to create a safe place to participate. Some of the girls were very self-critical and wanted to give up easily, but she encouraged them to let go and experiment and to trust that it would all come together, and it did!”

Katherine notes, “I was especially touched when during the third meeting, some of the girls said ‘We really like this class. We want you to come back when we're done with this project!’ I felt really proud seeing each of the girls taking a leadership role in their own way, and encouraging others to do the same. I always left feeling so positive, so happy and I’m very grateful that the girls enjoyed their time with me as much as I did with them.”

The girls who participated are delighted that now, every day, the other youth at Star View will be able to enjoy their jungle mural. Dale remarked, “The mural is beautiful and vibrant and reflects the many different personalities that created it. Thank you Create Now for such a wonderful and therapeutic experience!”

Here’s what some of the girls have to say:

“Working on the mural was exciting. It was magical and the day room looks like a forest with a waterfall.” – Camille, 16 years-old

“I liked it so much. It was cool to me.” – Alphie, 15

“Drawing this mural with Katherine was fun, especially designing it in the beginning. She was very helpful.” – Maria, 17 years-old

“Katherine was very energetic and the mural that I did was the waterfall, koala bear on a tree and a snake. I thought it was awesome. Very awesome!” – Khadijuh, 15 years-old

Thanks to Katherine’s friend Lien Nguyen for her assistance, too.

Special thanks to the sponsors of our Take heArt program:

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Kaiser Permanente Foundation.