EVERETT – The watercolor painting shows a growling monster towering over a small house.
The 4-year-old artist titled the picture “Monsters coming to get bad girls.”
For her, the monster was real – a depiction of the domestic violence at her home. And the painting helped her talk about the abuse.
That’s the goal of a new art program offered this fall by the Snohomish County Center for Battered Women. The center received a $1,200 grant to pay for art therapy for children staying in its shelter and transitional housing. The money came from the Greater Everett Community Foundation’s Ann and Mary Arts and Environmental Fund.
The money will pay for art classes for a year for about 35 children, said Becky Megard, an advocate for children in the center’s transitional housing.
“Abuse can be hard to talk about. Art can give kids a way to express their emotions,” she said. “Sometimes it’s easier to put it on a piece of paper than to say it.”
The center will be using some art projects designed by Window Between Worlds, an art therapy curriculum developed for children who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence.
“Most parents don’t think their children see the domestic violence even though the kids are there. But they hear and see everything,” said Nicole Arnold, a child advocate who will run the art program with Megard.
One of the art projects will involve designing “safety boxes.” The decorated shoeboxes hold the things that make the child feel safe, from a toothbrush to a list of phone numbers.
“Anything we can do to make it easier for them, we will,” Megard said.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@ heraldnet.com.
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