E-CRAFTS

Hi! My name is Faith Rimando, and I am a senior attending Saint Mary's College High School in Berkeley, California. I am very active in the arts at school, and I am also a tutor and a cheerleader. Art is very important to me, and my love for the activity began at a young age. I remembering creating art at the age of five. Using children’s magnetic drawing boards to draw, my five year-old self would draw the characters that were on television. From then on, my parents nurtured my love for art through teaching me techniques as well as letting me explore the many various media that one can use to create pieces. As time went on, my skills developed and improved through the art classes at school and also through Youtube videos, through which a lot of my skills have been taken from. After looking back on old art pieces and seeing the evident growth and improvement, it has become my desire to help others learn about art and how they can use as not only a fun activity, but also as a way to present their emotions when words have proven not to be sufficient in delineating what they desire to say. Through the program “E-Crafts”, this desire to show others the beauty and importance of art can be fulfilled. Through this program, I hope to spread the joys that art can bring to one’s life and also share our experiences and techniques that I have learned over the years to others so that in the future, they too would be able to share the beauty of art with those around them.

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Hi! I’m Nicole Fernandez and I am currently a Senior at Saint Mary’s College High School. Art is involved in almost every part of my life, but when I’m not doing art I’m an assistant coach for my city’s local volleyball club and also a volunteer for my church’s ministry. Unlike many others, I did not grow up making art and only started to develop this passion during my freshman year of high school. Having only used instincts and inspiration from fellow artists to develop my techniques, I would say that art has allowed me to understand myself and experiences in an unfiltered and very personal way. It is a very calming activity through which I can roam through any idea with no limit, and I believe that art paints a clearer picture of reality than reality does itself. I’ve also witnessed the community and love that art can create for the people who make it and eventually saw how art could once again be used for a greater and more meaningful purpose. I’ve always believed art to be something that should be shared and that brings peoples together, revealing who individuals are. I feel as though if anything was going to be used to bring the youth from all backgrounds together into a safe, encouraging environment, it was going to be art. My goal and hope for this project is to have a way to connect typical and special needs children so that we can begin an end to the ignorance encompassing the special needs community.