A little bit of history

 Twenty years ago…

My son Oliver, a creative soul if ever there was one, was sorry that there was so little time for art at his elementary school.

The desire to make things was pressing.

That’s when I started the first Garage Art program. The same seven or eight kids appeared in my garage every Thursday afternoon for two hours, until middle school. Today, most are still making art. They’ve kept their creative impulses alive through adolescence and on to adulthood, and that’s a rare thing.

Each week, I presented my little crew with a project I’d engineered in advance and a load of inspiring great materials, and set them to work. There was never a right or wrong way. There were many ways.

I spent more than four decades as an investigative journalist. I’m the author of two best-selling non-fiction books.

But I’ve always said that those Garage Art days were my very favorite days, and if the opportunity presented itself, I’d launch Garage Art Workshop redux.

I’m not a trained artist, and that’s probably just as well, because I know what it’s like to start from scratch. I spend hours working out the kinks, so that fun and creativity are guaranteed, and no one winds up in tears. Some would say that these projects are beyond the reach of elementary school kids. I can tell you that they’re not.

Why did it take so long?

With a book deadline pending and a family to raise, I didn’t have the bandwidth. But there was even less time available to oversubscribed kids who were busy with multiple sports , piano lessons, karate, religious school, tutoring and homework. And video games. Don’t forget those. Not that you could.

Then…the pandemic arrived. And just like that —all the scheduled activities went away. There was absolutely nothing to do except:

Screens. Screens. Screens.

For several months, I led an enrichment pod of fantastic first grade boys. I watched their small motor skills and their big imaginations develop. I saw how much they loved the freedom to create and to make what their parents might rightfully regard as an absolute mess. And I recognized that the time for Garage Art redux had come.

These days, the once extremely basic garage is an air-conditioned, heated, well-lighted, well-ventilated art studio, set up as a classroom that provides safe work space for seven kids. I designed it long before Covid, but it’s perfect for young artists. And I love, love, love what’s happening in there.

You will, too.

See you soon, I hope.

Cathryn