Local figures depicted in children’s art
Published 12:14 pm Wednesday, July 13, 2022
- Rosalind Garrett explains the art project to the families of the children who participated.
Artwork depicting prominent figures in local African-American history in Iberia Parish was on display Friday at the Sliman Theater as part of a program rolled out by New Iberia Parks and Recreation.
The artwork was created by children participating in a program put on thanks to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, Parks and Recreation Director Heather Dominique said.
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Dominique said the summer project came from Krystal Boyance with Parks and Recreation, who got the idea after listening to a presentation from Phebe Hayes, PH.D, who recently gave historical information about prominent African-American figures in Iberia Parish.
“Kyrstal thought about how we could incorporate that information for our children, it was really her dedicated work that got this started,” Dominique said.
The program also included local teacher Rosalind Garrett, who instructed the young people attending about the historical figures.
“I have had only two 45 minute sessions with them and by the end of the second session they were throwing out information like it was nothing,” Garrett said.
Garrett said the program asked the kids to create art depicting African-American history, but with the help of the Iberia African-American Historical Society the program was able to educate kids about figures that impacted the local area.
“We wanted to ask the kids about local history and thought it would be cool if they could know their own history,” Garrett said. “If your children know who they are and where they come from, they will have pride in themselves in their community.”
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The program also allowed several artists to come in and help the children with the project. Artist Jeremy Young said he was amazed by the work that the children created.
“The people we based this program on, they had perseverance against all odds,” Young said. “They persevere and these kids really persevered in seeing this through and created art. They did a really amazing job.”
Children at the celebration of the program Friday displayed their creations at the front of the stage for family and friends, and some even provided an explanation of their project to those attending.