As some of you know, Sonya attends a professional art studio called Garden of Arts, a Christian-run art studio intent on upholding and maintaining a biblical worldview. I have listed on the side bar of our adoption blog some of Sonya's finest work through Garden of Arts thus far. In order to help Sonya accomplish her goal of providing her own financial means to China, I will give our readership an opportunity to view some of her prints and then contact me via email to make known your selection for purchase. Please everyone, spread the word for Sonya's sake.
All prints will list a minimum donation which includes the cost of the print (with a marginal
mark-up) plus packaging and postage. The following is Sonya's work listed in the order found on the side bar (including dimensions) with a minimum donation.
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| "Cattails"- 10 3/4 x 15- min. $5 donation |
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"Basket of Flowers" - 10 3/4 x 15 - min. $5 donation     Please contact me at c.hoium@yahoo.com to place your order. All proceeds will go toward paying Sonya's way to China and back. This child is serious about wanting to do it all by herself. Will you please support Sonya's heart in this most precious matter? The Experience of What Art Really Is and What It Can Do - From a Mother’s Point of View Written by Cheryl Hoium I have liked Sharon Kuhn from the very beginning. From our very first telephone conversation regarding the potential placement of my daughter in her art school until the present day, who she says she is, what she says she does, and what she says she believes in have not changed. Sharon is solid. Sharon is stable. Sharon is safe. I like Sharon’s simplicity of purpose - to maintain her biblical worldview while elevating her students to recognize their God-given potentials and then exercise them. I like her honesty and integrity, where she honestly sees talent and potential in each and every student she meets and then exercises her integrity in lifting each student up to shine above her. I like that it is important to Sharon that she provide my daughter and her other students with a safe and loving learning environment, where they are safe to be themselves and make mistakes and then succeed. I like that she begins each art lesson in prayer, lifting up to our Father praise and thanksgiving for every good gift that flows out of them into their creations. I like that Sharon’s love for Jesus translates as an innate ability to sense the needs of each of her students and meet them in that place, providing a collaborative mechanism between teacher and student in order that inner excellence can flourish and prevail. I have learned through listening to and observing Sharon with her students that art is not just something we do with sidewalk chalk. Art, or the experience of real art, is something that will change who we are on a neurological and practical level. Real art, awe-inspiring and life-sustaining, is capable of stimulating and building higher reasoning in each person whom it touches. In essence, real art emanates from the spirit, exuding a spiritual substance our Creator has imbued with an unbridled joy! Sharon, because of her spirit-filled joy, is highly successful at teaching these children how to draw from their own reservoirs. It is in this joyful place where true, living art is birthed, the children are celebrated and their competence and a sense of belonging recognized. As parents, we can see that Sharon knows how to intuitively and actively build bridges to her pupils, these young hearts and minds we have entrusted to her care, perceiving as parents that the youth whom we send through her art school doors will be changed forever for the better with each and every encounter. At Garden of Arts, we can witness that through humility and grace the pupils can be emboldened to step out of their self-confined shells of uncertainty and embrace a new world of possibility just because they’ve been given a chance to be. To Sharon, it is not about the outcome of the artwork. It is instead about celebrating the uniqueness and beauty of each person who walks through her art school doors looking for help to set free their innate and God-given creative genius. As Sharon reinforces that she loves the “Sonya way” or the “Samuel way” or the “Melissa way”, and on and on, she is literally reinforcing in these young minds and hearts their ability to achieve, to problem-solve, to meet life head-on in any given situation. Truly, the sense of belonging and being liked by Miss Sharon causes the brains of these children to map success, victory, love and attachment, and in this manner our children are being given a hand-up into a future of endless possibilities and opportunities to cope and flourish, leading to the conquering of hidden fears and traumas. Finally, I can say with all assuredness that my daughter experiences healthy attachment with Miss Sharon; thus, she can trust Miss Sharon when she tells Sonya she can do something new and different. Sonya listens to, believes in and respects Miss Sharon’s authority. Because of all of this, Sonya has been able to create such beautiful art for her young age, and I know this beauty which is conceived in her mind and flows through her little fingers is an extension of her worth in God’s eyes, and as a mother and a human being, I marvel at the creation of the created. My daughter’s experience with Garden of Arts and her profound love and liking for Miss Sharon bear witness to this mother's testimony. For more information about enrolling your children or grandchildren in Garden of Arts, please contact Sharon Kuhn at 260-492-5602. I highly recommend her! |
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