When you walk into the art building, you’re greeted by an unruly ponytail palm in the doorway. And funky cacti fill the windowsills. 

But the art building is anything but prickly. 

After you walk in, there’s a set of pottery sitting on a table, inviting you to give them a look, perhaps a touch. You’ll hear students singing and stringing the guitar, all because they love the way it makes them feel. Once you step into the different art rooms, you’ll notice unfinished works of art by students. Maybe it’s a lantern in the metals room, or a ceramic bowl in the pottery space. 

You see, after serving my first semester here in the Learning Center (or LC as the students call it), I’ve come to call the art building home during the winter term. And home, it quickly became. 

As a learning specialist, working with students in the art building has reawakened my creative spirit. Along with the art teacher, Elara Coleman, I get to work with students each and every day by encouraging them to share their stories and create art surrounding them. Here at The Leelanau School, the arts are woven into their daily lives and it’s not just the strange plants that grow here, but the student’s creativity, too. 

The reason students are able to trust their inner weirdness here is two-fold. First, the arts building itself welcomes anyone who steps into it to simply be–be themselves. The student-painted music notes plastered on the walls shout both individuality and acceptance. Second, the warmth given from Mrs. Coleman, veteran music teacher, Laura Hood, and veteran ceramics teacher, Bruce Hood, create an immense sense of belonging. This, in turn, gives students the green light to let their creativity ooze out of them. 

The fact that the art building is a safe space for the teens here at The Leelanau School allows them to trust themselves, and eventually, each other. In our class, Storytelling and Illustrating, students have dug deep into their memories and felt empowered to share them. 

One student is writing about racism and is creating art inspired by the African American artist, Jacob Lawrence, to help him tell his story. Another student chose a nonfiction story about a frightening incident he’s endured involving gunfire. We also have students turn on their “wild weirdness,” as we like to call it, and they’re writing about some pretty zany ideas. For example, one is writing about imaginary goats, another about invasive lizards, and another about a magic box. These ideas are both meaningful and valuable. It feels like an honor that I get to hear their stories, and also, that I get to be a part of their process. 

At The Leelanau School, art teaches students to listen to the voice within themselves. It helps them pull their childlike creativity out again.