by Amber Rose Bauer
Some of my favorite times in Open were in the art room. Lanee was the art teacher at that time, and I always remember there being endless opportunities. I would grab cardboard, tape and scissors and be enthralled in a world that could have lasted for eternity. I came home with all sorts of contraptions. One of which I remember clearly, and may still have, was a constructed “piggy bank” complete with a string to drag it and cardboard tubes to send coins into its belly.
My love for creativity has continued to grow. The freedom and permission I had at the Open Classroom has encouraged me to continue to use my creativity in ways that are all my own. There is a feeling of ownership I feel began in the Open Classroom, ownership over my own art and creations: a feeling of leaping into an exertion of my own unique brilliance and mind.
Working at the Open now as a Resource Assistant, I love seeing this same energy in the art work current Open students create. They are so engaged, so certain of what they are creating even if they don’t know where it’s leading quite yet. Though the safety, permission and complete trust in one’s creativity can ebb away as one enters adulthood, I think that energy of permission is the key to living a fulfilled creative life. I am glad to have had the opportunity to be nurtured as a creative being from such a young age and to feel how that upbringing still guides me now.