Youth Art Month

March is Youth Art Month. For this year’s Youth Art Month, we present examples of unique youth photography from our Youth Arts for Change Program (YAC) exhibiting how art is both impactful and important for our youth in Clackamas County.

Youth Arts for Change Program Manager Lisa Smith creates unique, specific arts programs for youth across Clackamas County. In a recent YAC program, Smith presented students with prompts for photography. In one of their final sessions, she explained how these processes of taking photos to fit the prompts showed the individual youth’s experience and perspective on their world.

“You found an object and then you really had to focus in on it and observe,” Smith stated to the class. “First we went out to look for something beautiful, then we focused on perspective… First you were just asked to look, then we asked you to really interact with what you found. Those classes were asking you to become more involved in the making process. What was different when we were looking for ‘beauty’ versus ‘abstract’?”

One student stated how this process made her focus on how she was viewing the world around her: “On the first day we were looking for something already beautiful. But then we were looking at things another way and seeing other ways things could be viewed.”

The impact of this program is especially evident in the youth survey responses:

“I am an artist now”

“It helps me express my feelings”

“Now I know more about what inspires me.”

“Photo can express many emotions.”

“[I learned] to look at things from a different perspective.”

This is just one example of the impact art has on youth and the importance of youth arts in Clackamas County. 

Scroll below to see a gallery of youth photography from this unique YAC program.