Wanting a chance to get a better understanding of the Martin Park project, I decided to work on a trash can with Treazure. When I first sat down with her to tackle the project, she seemed to be a child on a mission so I asked her, “What can I do to help?” Her answer was, “You could make that part of the sun a little brighter”. We painted side-by-side and talked until I’d finished the sun. Once that was done, I asked Treazure, “What would you like for me to do now?” Her answer was, “Now, I can’t tell you what to do with your inner artist. You have to figure that out for yourself. You have to figure out what you want to do next”. I thought that was a very advanced answer for a fourth grader and I decided to tell Teresa, the Yo Art Teacher about Treazure’s statement and see what she had thought about it. When I told her, Teresa looked quite pleased and shared a conspiratorial glance with her volunteer, Rachel Venter. They explained to me that this was a concept they had been trying to get across to the students, that the expression of art is individual. “You see, she was really listening”, Teresa said. It reminded me that teachers are always excited when a student can exhibit a learned behavior and not just parrot back statements when quizzed. When responding to my question for guidance by telling me to trust my inner artist, Treazure was using a skill that the teachers had hoped to communicate: You have to define art for yourself and your expression of it should be personal and individual to you. For this afternoon, Treazure had become my teacher. -Article by Leslie Scanlan