Students at Howard Street Charter School. (Courtesy/Robert Salberg)
Students at Howard Street Charter School are embarking on an art project to make life brighter for people living in micro shelter villages in Salem that are intended to serve as a transition out of homelessness.
In January, the middle school students will start creating art that will hang inside the small, two-room buildings.
Robert Salberg, theater arts teacher, came up with the idea as the school was looking at ways to connect a project with the community that all 190 students could participate in.
Howard Street moved downtown in January 2020 from its original home in the former Leslie Middle School building adjacent to South Salem High School. At that time, students had started a study of homelessness with a goal of having the middle schoolers present solutions to the Salem City Council. But Covid stopped that work.
Salberg said that move brought a new awareness to students about homeless people.
“Our school is in the hub of where it’s happening. Our kids now see it on a daily basis. It’s opened their eyes to it and given them a different perspective,” he said.
Salberg said some of the students still make comments that are insensitive, and the project can help them understand how they can make a difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness.
“I don’t think our kids have fully grasped it all yet, but we hope by the end they’ll have a more empathetic view of homelessness. Realizing just because they’re in middle school doesn’t mean they can’t make a difference in someone’s life that’s experiencing it,” he said.
From Jan. 19 to March 9 the students will focus on canvas-style visual art using media like watercolors, charcoal and colored pencil. Following spring break, Salberg said the school is bringing in woodworkers to teach students how to make yard art or planter boxes.
“Ideally the kids would create both indoor canvas art and outdoor planters,” he said.
He said Howard Street is a project-based learning school, where every student is required to take an art class.
“Everything we do is pretty hands on and has some form of a project,” he said.
In December, the school brought in speakers virtually for students to learn from homeless service providers and city councilors.
“Who it’s effecting, how it’s effecting, what the city is doing about it,” Salberg said.
Salberg said creating artwork for micro shelters aligned perfectly and moved the students from working on something problem-focused to something empathy-focused.
“We didn’t want to do something that wasn’t authentic that wasn’t going to meet some kind of need,” he said.
Salberg lives near Bush’s Pasture Park and is an avid runner and cross-country coach.
On his daily runs, he’s watched the migration of homeless people to different parts of downtown, first from Rite Aid then to Marion Square Park.
“All of that interested me because it affected how I lived in being a person that runs through downtown every day,” he said.
When the school’s project is done, their work will be showcased in the Bush Barn Art Center.
Following that, homeless service provider Church at the Park will distribute the art to the clients living in the micro shelters.
“The goal is for the art to be available when somebody moves in and for them to be able to go into a room and say, ‘What in here do you want?’ We want it to be something they can feel is their choice and their own. Hopefully, when they get into permanent housing they can take that with them,” he said.
Contact reporter Saphara Harrell at 503-549-6250, [email protected].
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