At the completion of the “Raw Green/Watercolor Workshop,” Evelyn Patricia Terry (second from left), presented books to students, ranging from K-5 to 5th grade, to build their libraries and encourage summer reading. After school teacher, Ms. Diedra Gray, stands behind them (Center). Photo by Jessy Givens.
Barack Obama K-8 School (formerly Custer High School), YMCA Young Leaders Academy, and Brown Street Academy, this school year, successfully completed an after-school pilot program, “The Raw Green/Watercolor Workshop.” A Milwaukee Public School Partnership for the Arts Grant was awarded to visual artist and raw food advocate, Evelyn Patricia Terry. This hands-on project teaches students both the nutritional benefits and the artistic beauty of raw fruits and vegetables. Focusing on the importance of enzymes, a little known protein nutrient destroyed in cooking, this workshop “drives home” the importance of raw green vegetables and the nutritional value of enzymes present in raw foods and cells, including those in the human body.
Sponsored by matching community funding from Alice’s Garden, Walnut Way, and Lena’s Piggly Wiggly, students were presented three “fun” options to incorporate enzymes from raw vegetables and fruits into their diets: tasting, making fresh juices, and making smoothies. Beets, jicama, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, mangos, papayas, grapes, cucumbers, parsley, oranges, apples, pears, broccoli, carrots, and freshly picked garbanzo and pinto beans were tasted. Terry stated that, “Raw Green vegetables are absent from most diets, but must be incorporated into every meal to aid in retaining day-to-day health and prevent chronic and acute diseases. People have to learn that fresh raw vegetables are to our cells like gold is to one’s pocketbook, but far more important. Fresh raw green vegetables are great health insurance – the more you have, the better your insurance will be.“
Riverwest Artists Association, Inc. sponsored the artistic portion, which allowed students to create art books primarily using environmentally “green” watercolor images of vegetables and fruits with their labeled respective benefits. The books encourage students to share researched benefits with family and friends, and additionally provide space to continue to allow them to add information in the future.
Terry noted, “Because so many art programs were cut, this is one way that I can give back to students who need this form of creativity. I started late in college, where someone finally encouraged me.
I know all children deserve a head start in art, so that they will be prepared to compete in the booming creative economy.”
The MPS Partnership for the Arts and Humanities is an allocation of $1.5 million dollars approved by the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, to support arts and humanities-related opportunities for children and youth in after school and summer programs
Please email Terry at terryevelyn@hotmail.com for more information or visit www.evelynpatriciaterry.com/news. For more information about the MPS Partnership for the Arts and Humanities please visit www.milwaukeerecreation.net/artsandhumanities