Youth apprentice program shines in RI, Davenport

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By Kay Luna | Wednesday, July 9, 2008 11:16 AM CDT | () comments

Kevin E. Schmidt/quad-city-times From left, Andrew Cline, 16 of Orion , Ill., Jessica Leonard, 17, of Davenport, lead artist Terry Hanson of Rock Island, Nick Lybbert, 16, of Davenport, and Allie Johnson, 17, of Moline, learn a variety of beats with the drum/percussion group as part of the Quad-City Arts Metro Arts youth apprentice program. Buy this Photo

She sits under a white tent in the blazing sunshine, carefully tacking together pieces of salvaged and recycled materials.

But 16-year-old Molly Cathcart of Geneseo, Ill., doesn’t see just a pile of wires, shells and other random items on the table in front of her.

She sees a way to create art — a sculpture of a beautiful mermaid sunbathing on the shore.

“I just pictured it,” she said, shrugging her shoulders a little.

A strong interest and talent in artwork seems to come naturally to Cathcart, who will be a senior at Geneseo High School in the fall. She has wondered often whether she could make art a career one day.

So, she decided to give it a try — if only for the summer.

Cathcart is one of about 85 teenagers from the Quad-Cities and the surrounding region who are participating in the Quad-City Arts Metro Arts youth apprentice program. It offers five-week, stipend-paid jobs to teens 15-19 years old in various literary, visual and performing arts disciplines.

Since early June, the teens have been working at sites in downtown Rock Island and downtown Davenport, and they will soon wrap up the program with a showcase event Thursday, July 10.

For those interested in art, two groups of teens have been working to create sculptures and other items for display and sale, with the proceeds benefiting the apprentice program.

One group, of which Cathcart is a part, gathered recently on the south lawn of the RiverCenter in downtown Davenport with art supplies scattered in front of them.

For the past several weeks, these teens have focused on creating sculptures made from salvaged and recycled or found materials, led by Heidi M. Sallows, a professional artist with a specialized fine arts degree in green and ecological practices from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Across the lawn, another tent holds a group of teens who stand behind percussion instruments. They beat out rhythmic songs, watching each other deep in concentration as they focus on the cadence. Their leader is Terry Hanson, a local professional drummer and percussion instructor at West Music.

The percussion ensemble has been performing at Mojo’s in the River Music Experience in downtown Davenport. The group also has been building instruments for its homemade “orchestra” and arranging compositions to be played on those instruments.

Meanwhile, in another spot on the lawn, a group sits with notebooks open on their laps, reading poetry to each other. The group has been writing material for its “Alice in Wonderland”-themed chapbook, a small poetry book, complete with illustrations, which will be bound and sold at the Midwest Writing Center in downtown Davenport. The book also will be sold at the program’s showcase event Thursday in Rock Island.

The poetry group has been led this summer by Elizabeth Schumacher, a former grand prize winner of the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest.

For 15-year-old Xavier McBride, a 10th-grader at Davenport North High School, the poetry group has meant healing for his sad heart. His big sister got him into poetry before she died earlier this year.

“I used to like to rap, but now I just do this,” he said. “I wrote a poem about her.”

The teens listen to each other’s poetry and offer suggestions to make it better, said Ryan Collins, the program’s literary arts administrator.

Across the river in Rock Island, a group has been meeting to create applied arts, such as making tote bags, flower pots and other items that will be for sale at the showcase event. That group is led by Michelle Garrison, who will begin teaching this fall at Geneseo Middle School.

But possibly one of the most visible parts of the teens’ work is a mural a group has been painting near the entrance to the Government Bridge, at the DeSoto Arts building, 2324 3rd Ave., Rock Island.

That group is led again this year by Sarah Robb, who headed up the youth apprentice group that designed and installed a mural last summer at the Centennial Bridge Commission Building, 201 15th St., Rock Island.

This is the program’s ninth year, having begun in 2000 after an area business leaders initiative determined that youth needed to learn crucial job skills. Quad-City Arts teamed up with business leaders to develop a program that uses the arts to build employment skills in young people.

The program’s literary arts administrator, Collins, started out as a student apprentice that year. He became a part of the program’s leadership in 2007, he said.

Collins still remembers what a great experience he had as a teen apprentice in the program and wants to make sure that continues for years to come.

“It gives them a creative outlet, where they’re making art for the community,” he said. “And they get to work with a lot of students they would never have any contact with otherwise.”

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.

IF YOU GO

The finale of Quad-City Arts Metro Arts five-week youth apprentice program will be celebrated during a showcase event at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 10, in Arts Alley, adjacent to the Quad-City Arts Center at 1715 2nd Ave., in downtown Rock Island.

Artwork and poetry created by student apprentices will be on display and available for purchase at that time.

In addition, students who created poetry during the program will share their works at noon Friday, July 11, in the third-floor conference room of the Bucktown Center for the Arts. Bring your lunch. For more information about that event, contact the Midwest Writing Center, 225 E. 2nd. St., Suite 303, Davenport, or send an e-mail to mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org.

For more information about the apprentice program, go online to quadcityarts.com.

WHO SUPPORTS THE PROGRAM?

Quad-City Arts Metro Arts youth apprentice program is supported by sponsors that include:

* Bechtel Trusts and Foundation

* City of Rock Island

* Modern Woodmen of America

* Alcoa Foundation

* Deere & Co.

* John H. Harris III Memorial Foundation

* Moline Forge

* Davenport Noon Optimists

* Bituminous Insurance Cos.

* City of Moline Community Development Block Grant program

* Illinois Arts Council

* Junior Board of Rock Island

* Whitey’s Ice Cream

* Missman, Stanley & Associates

* THE National Bank

* Deere Employees Credit Union

* Midwest Writing Center

Quad-City Arts is a nonprofit local arts agency dedicated to the growth of the region through the presentation, development and celebration of arts and humanities. Its programs are supported partially by the Quad-City Arts Festival of Trees, Quad-City Arts Partners and operating grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the Iowa Arts Council.