Through Our Eyes,In Our Voices,the ARTS in our lives: Lois' story.

I have asked everyone for stories of how the arts have had an impact on your lives so I think it is time for me to explain why this is so important to me. This is my story.  

The ARTS have been a consistent energy force sparking my passion and ideology.

As far back as I could remember the arts have been a key element in my survival. When I was in elementary school I would sit in the back of the room creating special art projects for the teacher, I would spend my time at home drawing and writing elaborate stories, I literally created my own world through the arts, in middle school I remember having a very hard time and felt I never fit in and was never happy with myself so I started writing poetry. In the eighth grade, I remember showing my poems to my English teacher, I remember her saying they were depressing. I remember my eighth-grade art teacher constantly encouraging me and when I felt I was not good enough to apply for a special arts high school she continued to encourage me [her encouragement felt amazing]and helped me prepare my portfolio. I never did go to that arts high school even though I was put on a wait list and called to attend,that was probably all I needed to hear,that I was good enough.

I went through high school not doing any art which was probably the worst mistake in my life. I had no outlet so I turned to drugs and alcohol. While in college I started writing and painting again which proved to be my life line. I wrote constantly and did some drawing and painting. It was art that kept me alive, literally. It was at that time I decided to use the arts to help others. With the help of one of my professors I started interning at a hospital pre-school for developmentally challenged children. One of my responsibilities was working with a child diagnosed with autism. He was non-verbal and would not participate in anything. I sat with him for long periods of time with crayon and paper and after quite a while we developed a relationship drawing together, this was his way of communicating. This was the first time I saw art as way to help and connect with others. Art therapy was a very new idea with very few programs so with the help of my professor I studied psychology and art with a focus on using the arts as a tool in the education of developmentally and emotionally disabled students, all the while using the arts as my own survival tool.

After college, I looked for a position where I could use my ideology on the arts. I landed a position at United Cerebral Palsy of Manhattan. My intention was to introduce the arts when and wherever possible. Some of my students came from a state run home [these were teenagers released from Willowbrooke on Staten Island, an institution that brutally treated these individuals]. I proposed an arts program for these severely physically impaired teens and everyone thought I was crazy, they were non- verbal and severely physically handicapped, they could not grasp anything. Working with the physical and occupational therapists they developed adaptive equipment and language boards. For the first time in their lives these teens were able to communicate, they wrote poetry and were able to paint. It was amazing. You could see the joy and happiness on their faces, they were so excited. This was the first time they were given the opportunity to express themselves.  I created an art gallery in the front window of the building to showcase their work which gave them immense pride and satisfaction.

After working at UCP I decided to go to the New School of Social Research to study Expressive Arts Therapy.

Many years later I created my own non- profit organization, [partly because I could never work for anybody and the fact was there was no organization doing what I wanted to do] Center For The Arts, to create programs using the arts in the prevention of drugs, alcohol and violence. This was a very new strategy at the time. Through this organization I was able to create programs throughout New Jersey in prevention organizations, schools, communities, rehab facilities and detention centers. In the detention center program I remember walking in with my art supplies into a group of teens sitting in the middle of the recreation room. I was doing the program through the county Drug and Alcohol Prevention Organization and had to introduce myself that way. They were all very leery and were not happy to see me at first. One of the girls said to me if I was going to ask her to talk she was leaving because she did not want to talk anymore. I responded by telling her-she did not have to talk, that was not why I was here. I proceeded to hand out large pieces of paper and crayons and let them just draw. After a while I started giving them assignments and goals. After a short time they were all drawing out their personal stories on paper. To see these kids open up through their art only cemented my beliefs. I went on to do this program for three years.

I created a partnership with Rutgers University School of Social Work to sponsor my Breaking Down The Walls: Reaching Youth and Communities At Risk through the Arts Conference which was a national conference for ten years. Throughout the conference the common acknowledgement was that people did not know what programs were out there and that the true human value of the arts were never promoted. This always stuck with me and was something I wanted to correct.  

I also had the pleasure of creating the first Professional Arts in Prevention Certificate Program with Rutgers to train social workers, youth and community workers and artists on how to use the arts in working with their populations and also how to create arts in community organizations. The ARTS started to take an important role in strategic prevention planning.

The ARTS have always been the blood that runs through my veins. Throughout all of this I continued to use art as my own therapy.

                                               Both of these were done in 1995

This past January I finally decided that the time was right to follow through on my guiding principle, that the human value of the arts need to be promoted and marketed the way business markets their brands. Statistics are always needed to support our grants but we need to put a face on the impact and value, we need to tell stories, hence the birth of THE ARTS MAKE AMERICA GREAT Campaign. The ARTS MAKE AMERICA GREAT because they are the soul of this great democracy, they unite us, expresses our freedoms and truths, raises dialogues and are a prescription for health and wellness.

Throughout all the programs I have done I have seen first-hand how the arts have had an impact on the individuals I have worked with. I remember the comments throughout the conferences and certificate program from the professionals on what they saw happening, what possibilities the arts could offer their clients, students, communities and have and how the arts have impacted their own lives. I have been talking about the power and impact of the arts my entire professional life and believed in its’ power my entire life.

Please join me in this campaign, together we can make things happen! The arts are for all of us to enjoy,to participate in, and we are all creative on many different levels.

                              What is an Artist by Lois Saperstein 1977

A person who looks at life

    and his environment a little different than most

someone who not only uses his senses

    but someone who really feels through his senses

someone who takes in and gives out in their special way.

It is a give and take within and with their environment

and their environment is that definition 

which the artist imparts upon themselves.

Being creative is unique to everyone who attempts 

in any way, in any form to transform an expressive statement

     no matter what that might be.

The artist is a translator of a process that goes on 

    within and without

their tools, whatever they are

however they are used

are a means to an end, the end is a product that is 

expressive

                 that is art, a part of the self.

We can all learn, if we are willing 

to not only take in but to feel and sense

that certain beauty that surrounds us.

Everyone in his own way and on many different levels can be creative,

                  you only have to believe your are an artist!