Community art workshop with visiting artist Narda Boughton

During August, we were thrilled to welcome Narda Boughton to Potrero for a two-week long art workshop designed for the children of Playa Potrero and implemented in Abriendo Mentes classes.

Instantly, Narda captured the attention, minds and hearts of the students with her compassion, care, and knowledge of the fine arts. Adding to the success of the workshop, Narda's fluency in Spanish allowed her to explain the detailed art concepts to the children in Spanish, while incorporating English vocabulary such as colors, shapes, etc... into the lessons. The attendance was outstanding; we had students attend that had never been to Abriendo Mentes classes before, and thanks to the workshop, are still attending regular classes to this day.

Narda covered topics from sketching, making shapes and mixing colors, to drawing and painting self portraits, creating skin color, and paper mache. Throughout the workshop, Narda emphasized life lessons as well; the importance of taking care of your belongings, respecting your environment and respecting others.

To say the children enjoyed these two weeks would be an understatement. For a group of children that have never participated in a structured art class in their lives, this was a little slice of paradise for them. On the day we were drawing self-portraits, Melanny [an outgoing 11 year old girl] looked at her self-portrait in astonishment "I never thought I could do something like this, I am so proud of myself"...

What a wonderful collaboration that ended up exceeding all of our expectations, even the children's expectations of themselves. A huge thank you to Narda for her time, expertise and passion, and to Hotel Sugar Beach for sponsoring this art workshop.

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In Narda's words

At the beginning of August, I had the wonderful experience of collaborating with Abriendo Mentes, offering a two week Art Program to the town of Potreros, Guanacaste.

Working with kids from 3-17 y/o's, we covered a lot of ground- from drawing to painting, learning about shapes and colors, self portraits to papier mache. All classes were conducted in Spanish with English words taught throughout. So, while learning about different aspects of art, they continued expanding their English vocabulary. The artwork they created was full of imagination and fun, beautiful and mischievous. We had a ball!

In a village of 1000 (or so) people- where the soccer field is at the very center of town and resources are slim, Abriendo Mentes offers a much needed program that touches the lives of kids and adults alike- beginning through education, but resulting in being an integral part of the neighborhood, caring about it's growth and expansion.

It was a pleasure and a privilege to be a part of this exciting project!

This outreach program is the result of the generous efforts and resources of Sugar Beach Hotel's owner, Sarah Pfeiffer, whose continued interest in community outreach for the town of Potreros has made this Art Workshop possible. Thank you!