A brick wall was painted in black puffy paint on an old pair of blue jeans, along with the words anger, confusion, stress, depression, hurt and laughter.
“They don’t need to be interpreted,” said Lisa Lowe as she observed the handiwork. The jeans used to be hers.
Lowe is part of a giving circle called Empower Women + Girls that partially funded art therapy at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington. Art therapist Jocelyn Fitzgerald spearheaded a project where girls in her group at the O.K. Clubhouse used old jeans as a canvas to show what it’s like to be them for a day.
In other art classes, they’ve created masks and self-care items such as stress balls and lotions with essential oils.
“Stress happens,” Fitzgerald said. “I would ask ‘how much are you stressed?’ And they would say ’24/7.'”
She asked the girls how they think adults view teens. Fitzgerald said, “I got a whole bunch of really negative things. ‘We’re disappointments. We’re hardheaded. We’re stubborn.'”
Community leaders like Lowe donated old jeans and then visited the O.K. Clubhouse on Thursday night to see the teens’ final products, which took a couple of nights to complete.
Joy Cowan, 17, drew cartoon characters on paper and stuck them onto the jeans to convey the emotions she feels throughout a day.
“Art therapy is the best kind of therapy,” said Cowan, who takes a couple of different classes every week. “I feel like I’m making a change for the better in my life.”
Kamelai Powell, 14, who has been coming to Boys & Girls Clubs since fourth grade, enjoys singing and playing basketball, so her jeans reflect that. A day spent “walking in her blue jeans” would be filled with a lot of hopes and aspirations, but also doubt and negativity, she said.
Lorena Rojas’ jeans have different colored handprints representing being upset, OK or happy.
“To be honest, I go through some hard things, but I still try to be happy,” Rojas, 11, said. Art therapy helps. “It kind of helps with relieving the stress and stuff. Whenever we do something fun, it’s so we can be happy instead of being all down, instead of having a bad day.”
Vancouver City Councilor Alishia Topper took part in the project, but the girl who got her old jeans wasn’t able to make it Thursday night. Her jeans had been transformed into cutoffs and bedazzled with flowers, jewels and glitter.
“Her and I have a lot in common. She has moved quite a bit, and she’s moved back to Vancouver,” Topper said.
Back when she was a teenager, Topper said her jeans were acid-washed, with holes in the knees and she had probably owned them for a long time. She only got one or two new outfits every year.
“We couldn’t wear pants to school. That’s how old I am,” Lowe said. “My first pair of jeans were made out of polyester and had a permanent seam down the middle — to give you some idea of how not cool they were. Wanting to do something, I embroidered a big sunburst on the pocket.”
Cowan said she does not think adults have forgotten what it’s like to be a teen and struggling.
“It’s harder for them to focus on what a teen’s life is like when they have all these other things going on in their life. It’s hard for them, too, but in a different way,” she said.
Fitzgerald hopes to do another art project where adults and teens collaborate.
