KAILUA-KONA — For Christy A. Logan, art education is a crucial part of a child’s learning experience.
“It opens their mind to creativity,” she said, speaking from experience, because when Logan was a student and instructed by her art teachers what she had to paint, her young mind would instead race about all the different possibilities she could create.
“Here it is, paint it,” she said, remembering those old instructions. “(But) I want to paint what I want to paint.”
“I was that way,” she added.
Logan has spearheaded an effort to make sure students have supplies to fill their wildest imaginations, having raised $6,800 for art wares for classrooms. Fulfilling, she said, because teaching children to learn using different techniques, including artistic expression, is part of a teacher’s job.
“I think art is part of that,” she said. “And not having the tools to be able to open your mind and be able to be creative and color outside the lines and think outside the box is a tragedy for our society.”
Logan’s effort started one day substitute teaching at Kealakehe Elementary School though, where she found the school’s stock of art supplies lacking as a result of low funding.
So she set out to change that.
In 2015, she organized the school’s first Art4Moore Teacher/Parent Shopping Spree with the assistance of Art4Moore, a California-based nonprofit that provides art supplies, funding and support for children and teachers, and the Rotary Club of Kona, who each gave $2,000 for the event for a $4,000 warchest.
This year, Logan organized a repeat of the event, held July 20 at Walmart, but with more donations.
The store chipped in $1,500 to the shopping spree, while Logan also received support from West Hawaii Concrete and a $5,000 grant from Art4Moore.
The Shopping Spree event is also a game. It gives one parent and teacher team from each grade level a 15-minute shopping spree through Walmart to collect art supplies and other items teachers can use in their classrooms.
Each team gets a budget for its spree. The team that comes the closest to its budget without going over is deemed the winner. This year’s winner was the third-grade team, Logan said, who came within $86 of their budget.
This year, the winning parent and teacher each received $200 worth of gift cards from businesses including Amazon, Zappos and Outback Steakhouse.
At the spree, they spent $4,100. The remaining money Logan presented in Walmart gift cards, altogether worth more than $2,000, to Kealakehe Elementary School principal Nancy Matsukawa. That money will be divided up equally among classes to go toward purchasing more art supplies.
For Matsukawa, who was Logan’s seventh grade teacher, seeing her students return and give back to the school is a rewarding experience.
“It validates the reason I went into education,” she said. “To help my students grow and become the best people.”
Matsukawa said she occasionally sees former students come back and contribute in some way or another, either as parents of new students who support kids in the classroom or assist as chaperones on school outings.
“We’re not here for fame and fortune; we’re not here for the money; we’re not here for the accolades,” she said. “But when the students do come back — and sometimes they just come back from the intermediate school … and they express an appreciation and it validates it because the teachers have made a difference in their students’ lives.”
In just one year, Logan said, the program has already improved.
“It was much more organized,” she said.
In addition to creating shirts for the event, which include designs from students at Kealakehe Elementary School, Logan also introduced referees to help keep order.
“It was a challenge last year,” she said. “This year was way better, way more organized and I hope next year will be and I’d like to continue this thing going forward.”