Since 2016, Cook Children’s has helped children express their feelings through art. This month, some of that art will be displayed for millions of people.
Children’s Feelings are a Work of Art is a mental health initiative designed by Cook Children’s Center for Community Health to teach kids and teens how to identify, manage and express their feelings. The program includes a curriculum focused on how to express one’s feelings, and the group partners with community organizations to provide the lessons.
Activities might look like, “how do you feel when it’s your birthday,” or “what do you do when you get angry?” Those prompts help kids to learn and name their feelings in specific scenarios, and then teach them healthy coping skills of what to do when they have big feelings, explained Program Coordinator Emily Russell.
One of the lessons is how to manifest those feelings into art. Kids from four years old to older teens are encouraged to draw pictures and write a short description of what the piece means.
This year, for the first time, 50 of those drawings will be displayed at the Dallas Love Field Airport. The exhibits went up July 30 in the airport’s baggage claim area and will remain until September 30.
The program leaders reached out to the airport a few months ago and developed the exhibit from there. The airport expects two to three million travelers to pass through the exhibit area in the next few months, Russell said.
“Hopefully, a big portion of those travelers will be able to see our artwork and hopefully have something resonate with them,” Russell said.
The artists range from four-year-olds to older teens and the art will span across thirteen display cases designed by the Cook Children’s Strategic Marketing and Communications team.
One of the pieces in the exhibit is “The Titanic,” by Danny. The 10-year-old used pencil, crayons and markers to draw a ship sliced in half and disappearing into the ocean.
“Sometimes your feelings sink like the Titanic did, because it hit the iceberg,” he wrote.
Another displayed piece is by Ariana, 11. “Anxiety” shows a volcano spewing red rocks and lava behind a screaming girl.
“This is anxiety she is having an anxiety attack,” she wrote. “She is thinking, ‘what if the volcano is going to explode in the entire world?’”
As adults, we don’t always realize that kids of all ages are having these deep, complex emotions, Russell said. This program not only helps kids process their feelings, but also helps the adults in a child’s life understand those emotions. That understanding builds better relationships and a foundation for future mental health strategies.
“We really hope that the kids are learning about healthy expressions of their emotions and appropriate expressions of their emotions, but not being afraid to share those emotions or being embarrassed by their emotions,” Russell said. “We’re also teaching the parents that kids can have emotions and that they do want to share those emotions. It’s not something that you should be ashamed about, and your mental health isn’t something that you should be ashamed about.”
Russell hopes the exhibit encourages children and adults alike to dive into their own feelings on a deeper level. The goal of the entire program is to encourage more community conversation around mental health, and these exhibits aim to do just that.
Children’s Feelings are a Work of Art began more than 10 years ago as a community-wide art contest in Denton County through the WATCH Coalition, or the Wellness Alliance for Total Children’s Health. Cook Children’s and community partners focused on mental health and came up with the idea to help kids explore their feelings through artwork.
This will be the first time the art is publicly displayed outside of Denton County, but Russell hopes it is just the first of these kinds of exhibits.
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