Program Spotlight: Art Workshops
“You can spend an hour just doing art—you don’t bring your past, or your problems, you just bring yourself and your art.”
- Jack, Permanent Supportive Housing Harper’s Pointe Resident
Ryan, a 53-year-old resident, works on a box he first modeled after the design of his 3-year sobriety token. He didn’t like how the design initially turned out and is now working to add an intricate pattern of lines overlapping each other on a yellow background.
On a bright but frigid Thursday afternoon, residents at Harper’s Pointe, a Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) site, gather in the community room to begin their monthly art workshop funded by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. Art instructor and local professional artist Guy Vincent introduces the activity of decorating small paper craft boxes, offering coloring supplies, old magazines, glue, and scissors to decorate the boxes however they like.
Residents like Ryan sit at their tables to work on their art projects. They choose supplies with the right colors and patterns for their vision and diligently labor over the blank boxes, slowly turning them into fully realized expressions of their innermost thoughts and feelings.
PSH provides housing to single adults and families experiencing long-term homelessness, substance use disorders, and/or mental illness in Cuyahoga County. Case management and housing services assist residents in sustaining their independence and housing.
Shyanne Urban, FrontLine PSH Coordinator, says activities such as art workshops are important to residents not just for their own mental and emotional well-being but also for socializing in a healthy environment.
“It’s a chance for them to come down and forget about what’s going on and just participate in something in a positive way,” she says. “A lot of them look forward to it—it’s their time to relax and spend time with each other.”
Guy, who has provided creative and healing art sessions for nearly a decade, says activities like these can help someone process the aftermath of stress and trauma.
“The non-verbal aspect of artmaking allows individuals to express their feelings, thoughts, and experiences that they may find difficult to articulate verbally,” Vincent says. “Making art offers individuals a sense of accomplishment, control, and relaxation while providing a path to greater self-expression.”
In his experience, residents display a wide range of interpretations through each art piece. While some use art to process their emotions, others just enjoy the technical aspects of completing the pieces. To Guy, the diverse interpretations people make creatively are what makes art such a powerful and meaningful form of expression.
Ryan titles his work “Chaos,” which is what he feels at times when struggling with his sobriety while living in PSH. He’s been at Harper’s Pointe since it first opened in 2018 after experiencing homelessness in part due to his substance use disorder.
Ryan used to make art but now enjoys reconnecting with that skill and pastime sober, and in a healthy environment. “It’s therapeutic, it all is,” he said. “I love this class—I wish we could do them more often.”
