Elvira M. Skuzinski
Giving Back to My Community
When individuals feel good about themselves, they want to help others feel good, too. This fosters an atmosphere where everyone belongs and a community thrives. In my spare time, I encourage others to find ways to better themselves. Sometimes I help them create a five-year business plan, other times I give them the tools needed to get out of debt. My parents were creative, empathetic souls who poured themselves into their work, no matter what the task. Every day was like an apprenticeship, and I was an apt pupil who was encouraged to explore everything around me. I have always used my skills to help others, and my curiosity about a wide range of topics has led me to volunteer for a variety of events, including free art workshops for adults. Every participant tells me they can't draw a stick figure, and I love to prove them wrong. Art is an innate part of every individual. Criticism from others when we're young can lead to believing things about ourselves that aren't true. You just need to find your medium, i.e., the materials that speak to you, and then it is easy to create. And when people are encouraged to be innovative and to collaborate with one another, a sustainable community can be realized.
Local business owners often are disappointed after ordering business cards and similar printed media. I led a free workshop to explain design basics and terminology used by printmakers. (Yes, I studied printmaking in college and loved every minute of it because I have a high attention to detail.)
An art therapy class I taught at a local gallery proved to be very beneficial for participants, who found themselves in the midst of a pandemic less than 3 months later. Even better, it encouraged people to write letters and send them the old-fashioned way via snail mail. I showed how to reuse junk mail envelopes for personal correspondence and how to make postcards out of cereal boxes.
At the local library, I showed adults how to be creative with a variety of materials in a mixed media journaling workshop. Bullet journaling had become popular, so I brought in my own sketchbooks and passed them around to let each participant see there are no rules when it comes to journaling. Each person had a variety of papers, pens, and pencils to use, and I gave them a fun exercise to try. In return, they thought it'd be fun if I did it, but they wanted me to come up with a character that featured a list of many items instead of just two: a fish, the color yellow, a Burberry scarf, a tattoo, a winter hat, a Harry Potter scar, and reading glasses. Voila!
People requested a training session to learn how to use basic graphics software. I asked participants to bring personal images and ideas for projects, which encouraged them to be more involved. One very popular item was this high school graduation invitation that mimicked a sporting event ticket.Â
This workshop for local businesses demonstrated how to take professional-looking photos and edit them to self-promote using social media, websites, and printed ads.
YouTube videos can be instructional, but in-person workshops give people the opportunity for one-on-one assistance when things go wrong. This one involved making wedding invitations and thank-you cards, and participants were relieved to learn tips and tricks for creating their own decorative envelope liners, adding embellishments like glitter and embossing, painting clouds and dandelions using craft acrylics and cotton swabs, and operating a die-cut machine to stamp shapes out of photos and printouts. It proved to be so popular, two more workshops were held, and many in attendance contacted me recently to express thanks for giving them something calming to do during the pandemic.