Sayre Teacher Starts Kids’ Art Exchange With Cuban Artists

Sayre Lower School art teacher Georgia Henkel recently returned from a trip to Cuba where she fulfilled a long-term professional desire to establish a children’s art exchange.

Her trip was made possible through a summer sabbatical grant from Sayre School.

Henkel has always sought to provide her students with an authentic creative experience. It was also her desire to establish a youth art exchange in a more obscure and underserved area, a place where this had not been done before.

She decided to ferret what opportunity might exist for her to do this in Baracoa, a small city in Guantánamo Province, on the Eastern tip of Cuba.

Youth art exchanges usually begin with a call for submissions, and typically the process becomes a competition where judges determine selections.

Not keen on turning the process into a contest, Georgia unveiled her plans and gently urged her Sayre students to participate.

Students in Grades k-5 went to work and Henkel took 20 pieces with her to Cuba this summer. She brought back 20 pieces created by the Cubans she worked with and that art will be on display at Sayre starting Oct. 16.

In January, the art will be moved to the UK Hospital.

The artwork created by Sayre students will remain in Cuba for a year and be displayed twice – once in the Casa de Cultura and once in the local hospital. Y