BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Spreading light through art

By Kate-Yeonjae Jeong, age 16 and Matthew Jeong, age 15 | January 27, 2022

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SENIORS AND STUDENTS Siblings Kate-Yeonjae and Matthew Jeong, students at Kinder HSPVA, created the Light Up Network, which hosts art-therapy events for seniors.

We recently partnered with local non-profit Noah’s House, an organization for intellectually challenged adults who live together in a residential setting, for an art-therapy event. The event provided a time for creative expression through hands-on art, with a fun theme for the residents of Noah’s House to follow.

We first partnered with Noah’s House when Kate was in eighth grade. Our first art therapy event, in which we made collage art, was in March 2020. However, when the pandemic hit, the art-therapy events were unable to continue, until now. After months, we were finally able to resume the events with a developed project: Light Up Network.

Together, we founded Light Up Network at Kinder HSPVA to provide art-therapy events for seniors and to promote intergenerational connections between youth and senior communities. Light Up Network has various projects, such as interactive dance activities, mini-concerts filled with fun music, and an upcoming Birthday Bash project to celebrate the special days of seniors both locally and globally. Our hope is to share the joy of art.

Our recent art-therapy event consisted of creating “All About Me” collages, where seniors selected their favorite magazine cut-outs that they related to. From various craft materials of stickers to ribbons, residents created art pieces with Light Up Network members of Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Over their creations, the students and seniors engaged in conversations. The art-therapy event was filled with laughter and friendship, and the energy was lively. It was a beautiful moment to create art and share our common love for it.

Light Up Network plans to host more art-therapy events and projects in the near future to create more unforgettable moments, and we couldn’t be more excited to share the joy of art.

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