Young Rembrandts – Kansas City Northland.
How are budding artists developed?
How do they cultivate skills and enjoy the process of creating artists? One after-school program may be the tool to help germinate that creativity. Young Rembrandts has been around for 25 years and can be found in 30 states. In the Kansas City area, husband and wife team Susan and Tim Draftz are two organizers, leading a mission to improve the passion and sheer magnitude of art for children in elementary school. Susan carries the official title of program director at Young Rembrandts – Kansas City Northland.
Ironically neither is a professional artist. Susan worked as an attorney in the juvenile court system while Tim works as the comptroller for Goodyear Tires. The two started deliberating on a second career and even spent time with a career coach. The two, who are parents to 8 children of their own, discovered that they had a passion for children.
“We have always been involved in the performing arts,” Tim says. “That came from being involved with our children. However, my background resurfaced. I used to take art classes once a week at the Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago. My father was blue collar, but he made sure that my brother and I had our $2 for class. A dollar would have purchased three gallons of gas. I never missed a class from third grade to eighth grade. I learned to paint and draw. It really helped mold me. Even as an accountant, the art has allowed me to see the whole situation as a right-brained person while in a left-brained job.”
The answer came in the form of Young Rembrandts, a program that has been around for more than 20 years in 30 states. For Susan, who leads as facilitator, six years of lessons are at her disposal. Tim has also taught some of the classes as the memories of his own youthful art classes flood back. “I remembered that I could be a right-brained person. I even have a white board that I draw on and all those memories of drawing techniques, styles, and those basics come flooding back,” he says.
Right now, Susan has after-school programs in Kansas and Missouri, but still seeks more coordinators who would share this love of art. They are in schools in Atchison, Kansas to Shawnee almost to Independence, Mo.
“It’s really about lines and shapes. It’s a program that comforts left-brained and right-brained students. There are instructions for the left-brained learning style, but also creativity for the right-brained. As an example, in drawing, the decision is to move from big objects and shapes while in coloring, we reverse that and have the students go from small to big. It’s simply a different way to think about teaching art. We give the teachers the tools that they can share with students,” she says. By February, she hopes to have 7 schools on the Kansas side and 10 schools in Missouri with Young Rembrandts’ after-school programs, with tuition paid for by parents. “They do need to love kids.”
Susan says one of the biggest positives is to get children in those elementary years to find success in art. “When a child looks at a blank page, they have to have the fortitude to dig in and try. There is a certain amount of patience and persistence that comes with doing art.” Tim also believes young students can gain additional problem-solving skills in art. “Say you are drawing an apple and an orange where one fruit is in front of the other. The child has to figure up how to draw both pieces of fruit, but then erase the portion that is hidden behind the other. It takes some thought to make these decisions.”
Tim considers the other side benefit to be the combination of art history and art appreciation that also is part of the program. “We want to contribute to raising a generation that can go to a museum or art gallery and appreciate what they see.”
Recent successes have included workshops at the Leavenworth and Tonganoxie libraries. “Kids get excited to complete a work in one hour. They see the results and are proud of themselves. We don’t want mirror copies,” Susan says. “If students participate in Young Rembrandts, they find success. It’s a real self-confidence booster.” Tim calls the program “concrete creativeness.”
In the near future, the Draftzes want to see the program expand into more schools with more teachers. Susan wants art enrichment in daycares, preschools and other community centers. “The vision is to cultivate a can-do attitude.” They also happily appreciate the guiding principles of a safe environment that is both physical and psychological. There is respect for the students and teachers. There’s also integrity and patience. The teachers and Susan meet monthly. “It is simply about reinforcing the student spirit in all that we do. The kids get that during their regular class work and now we can do that too.”
“We do strive for passion,” Tim describes. “We see are proponents of the STEM idea where science, technology, engineering and math are exalted, but I wanted to make it STEAM and add art to the mix. The humanities have to be included to help develop the whole person.”
