Former Lawyer Pursues a Lifelong Desire to Help People Through Art

When I was growing up in Baltimore County, I always took a lot of art courses, but when I went to college in Virginia, I majored in European history. Then, when I returned home after college in 1984, I went straight to law school at the University of Baltimore.

I practiced construction litigation for a small law firm before going out on my own after my first child was born in 1993. At the time I was doing a lot of soul searching. I was hearing noises in my head

about starting an arts program, and I was also feeling less satisfaction with practicing law. I could win a case, but I felt bad because my clients would have to go through a lengthy litigation to recover money rightfully owed them and then would pay me a large fee.

One of the reasons I became a lawyer and why my lawyering was ultimately not enough is that I have truly vivid memories of the riots here in Baltimore in 1968.

My family had an African-American housekeeper who was like a grandmother to me. I remember driving one day and seeing people picketing outside the Milford Mill Swim Club to exclude African-Americans, although the signs didn’t use the words “African-American.” I remember feeling so sad for Vi, our housekeeper, even though she was not in the car. I loved her and I wanted to cross out all their signs. I think it was that day that I decided to do something to help people, and as I grew the natural avenue for me was going to be law. Art was going to be my personal outlet.

But then law became less and less satisfying, and my “helping-people meter” was on empty. After a lot of discussion with my husband, I decided to make the leap of faith and incorporate Art With a Heart in March 2000 and to pay for its costs myself. At the beginning my mother — who had paid for law school — wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but now she is so proud of me and respects me for having the courage of my convictions. I realized that there were many people out there who have very little at all and absolutely no access to the arts, and it was these people I wanted to work with.

Our organization provides hands-on arts activities to disadvantaged families and children and to people with developmental and physical challenges. I began putting together an arts curriculum in order to get nonprofit status, which the Internal Revenue Service granted us in 2001. Initially I choose four sites: a shelter for battered women and children, an Alzheimer’s facility, and two residential group homes for emotionally disturbed teenage boys. At first it was just me buying materials and doing all four classes every week.

We have received money from a number of local foundations, from Baltimore city, and from a mailing list of private donors that I’ve put together over the past several years. Today we have a paid staff of eight and have now expanded our programs to 14 different sites with approximately one class a week at each of these locations. And now all of the sites pay us something for our efforts, which I think creates more value for everyone. Our budget for 2003 was $90,000; next year it’s going to be $120,000. Much of our growth has been the result of a proactive board.

One of ways I’ve organized the program is to choose an artist, talk about his work, and then take on a project that reflects his philosophy. For instance, I found an artist named Charles White, who grew up in poverty in Chicago. Because his first canvases were window shades in his home, I went out and bought new window shades and paint and brushes and took them to a local women’s shelter, where we encouraged the women to paint them with symbols and colors that reflected who they were. Then when they left the shelter and had homes of their own, they would have something for their homes that they had created.

Without a doubt there have been challenges. If I was not completely committed to Art With a Heart, I would have never returned to the homes for the emotionally disturbed boys. We understand that the first few times we go to a site, the participants, generally speaking, are a bit difficult because they do not know us and may not necessarily trust us. At first the boys would call us names, then sometimes they would totally cooperate and do wonderful work and then trash it just to see if we would yell at them.

We got a lot of testing at first, but when we turned out to be reliable and a constant in their chaotic lives, things began to change. I’ve taken one group of boys to New York on two different occasions and taken the younger boys out to the theater and a Japanese steakhouse.

When I look to the future, there are a couple of things I want to do. Several of our clients are very qualified and capable people who have had a lot of misfortune in their lives, and I want to hire them to work with me. For instance, one of the 17-year-old boys in the group home who is now living independently recently worked with Art With a Heart and a local domestic-violence organization to put on an art project for kids and adults. He was just amazing with the 40 children and really worked his tail off. Since he knows the populations we serve and has firsthand knowledge of the benefits of the program, this high-school senior is now going to be on my board of directors.

Last year we had our first booth at Artscape, which is a huge annual outdoors event in Baltimore city that sees tens of thousands of people coming to performances and to buy work from exhibiting artists. This past summer we took a number of pieces of what I saw as marketable art to Artscape and several items, in fact, did sell. As a result, when I plan for the future, I want to determine how our clients can sell their work either to raise money for their programs or to support themselves.

I really don’t see myself as an artist, but as more of a creative thinker. Art With a Heart started as a seed, but now it’s become a tree, and I see no limit to its future.

How did your first work experiences shape your current nonprofit career? Tell us at entrylevel@philanthropy.com. Your story may appear in a future edition of Entry Level.