This last summer, Jeremiah Community partnered with local artist Alexandra Hazisavvas – and “Guerilla 12″ was the result. G-12 is an artist run workshop for kids. We asked Lynn Roeder to write a reflection on being part of G-12. Here’s what she had to say…
Fear, the feeling I had on my first day of Guerilla12, was something I didn’t feel again for next four weeks of camp. When I walked into the room I realised right away, this was in no way your average camp. For starters there wasn’t the normal, 20 kids per leader. I got so much more personal help that, sometimes, I felt like I was in a semiprivate art lesson, but at the same time, I had a bunch of friends with me! I made many friendships during G12 (Guerilla12), including some people I would never even think of talking to, let alone become friends with. Everyone was friends with everyone else and it’s still that way, even though camp is over. Since we learned new skills and grew together, we became very close. I felt that, everyday, I learned so many things about art and how to create it that I didn’t even realise how much I loved doing art, until I had been at Guerilla12. Every week we had an artist who specialised in the type of art that we were doing. When we were doing photography, we had a photographer who had a show coming up. We got to know the artists personally and the photographer even invited us to her show!
The instructors, Alex and Monica, were by far one of the best parts of the camp. They are very open- minded and really know how to teach others. My friend, Rebecca, met them and she agrees that they are extremely nice. Really, I’ve never met better camp leaders and they became my friends. Every morning we had a check-in, where we all said what was going on (if we wanted to) and how we were feeling. One morning, I was having difficulties with someone and they offered advice. With their help I completely solved my problem! Check-in happened a few times a day for a few minutes, but those few minutes made all the difference. Another thing that happened every morning was that we drummed in. We each chose an instrument from a box and literally played to the beat of our own drum. Sometimes, the result wasn’t the greatest, but usually we made awesome music! It was a time to just let loose and laugh.
I can’t really explain why I love Guerilla12 so much as it was really everything put together. What can I say? The camp was perfect. Everyone had a great time. It was the best camp I’ve ever been to and I think everyone would agree.
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Lynn Roeder is a writer, and is part of the G-12 community.
