ARLEE — When a school district runs a four days week, students often need an engaging way to spend their Fridays.
That's why the Missoula Art Museum, the Arlee Community Development Center, and the National Endowment for the Arts teamed up with local artist Cameron Decker to bring a new program (fueled by Stageline Pizza) to Arlee.
A free, weekly art course has been running since the middle of April. Teens get the opportunity to try all sorts of art forms through the Teen Art Project (TAP).
“I love creating things with my hands because it feels like a very beautiful exercise,” shared TAP participant Justine Shelby.
Art conveys a range of feelings not only for those who view it but for those who create it.
TAP Participant Deja-Nay Little-Marry told MTN, “I feel very peaceful. I feel at ease with everything.”
Making art allows space for deepening connections to culture and ways of life.
“I love sketching and like, being out in the wilderness. I love drawing stuff like that because I'm Native American and I feel really connected to everything around me,” detailed Shelby.
Little-Marry added, “I am making a floral design because, you know, that's one thing that's big in our native culture.”
For youth, expanding on a passion can be as easy as picking up a paintbrush.
“If I were to become an art teacher or something. It's helping me learn more about art, learn what kind of art skills I can work with,” said Little-Marry
Shelby offered, “I want to become an electrical engineer and a pilot and I feel like I'm gonna do art pieces on the side, you know, just because I love it.”
This is the first year that TAP has been held in Arlee.
Decker explained, “I've just noticed, in my own just like hopping around between a lot of places, that everybody to me seems to be in the right place right out to really support the arts and everybody that I've talked to, wants student art out in public, wants to celebrate our students' talents.”
On May 24, 2024, the group used paint, black lights, and Decker’s inflatable bubble to change the dimensions of creation.
“I just learned how to make them from an artist and he's from Kalispell and his name is Wes Hines. He was just showing us his bubbles that he made and he was telling me how to make them and just ... he wanted people to make them. He said go for it,” shared Decker
This is just one of the unique art exercises in the two-month-long course. Teens will have the opportunity to see their art hanging on walls in Arlee at the end of June.
“As many pieces as we create, we're going to find sites for them around town and we hope it's sort of like a rotating project that we'll be able to do every year here," stated Decker.
