Uvalde Love Project: Local art therapists help Uvalde community heal through art
AUSTIN, Texas — A group of local art therapists travel to Uvalde bi-weekly to work with those impacted by the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.
Owner of Community Arts, Wanda Montemayor, helped jumpstart the initiative and is the program manager of the Uvalde Love Project.
The Uvalde Love Project is a community project that promotes community healing through a combination of workshops and art.
"As a group of art therapist, after the tragedy at Robb Elementary we wanted to do something," said Montemayor.
The group of art therapists host Tacos and Tiles, a series of tile making workshops for the children, families, and teachers in the Uvalde community.
While the idea for the Uvalde Love Project started three months ago, Montemayor says art therapists have been hosting free workshops for the Uvalde Community since last month. Montemayor tells CBS Austin, she is working with Uvalde CISD to train art teachers trauma-informed teaching practices.
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"When a community is shattered they need to come together, right, and what happens is there's more shifting," explained Montemayor. "This is something that can bring the community together in a loving healing way."
The final part of the project is a mosaic mural of all the hand made tiles by workshop participants and other members of the community. The large-scale mural will be located in the Jardin de Heroes Park in Uvalde
Montemayor says the goal of the project is to support families and foster healing and hope in the aftermath of trauma.
"When trauma hits a small person, it's a whole different ball game. That creates waves of repair that needs to happen," said Montemayor. "The good news is what we know from research, is that positive loving connectivity is what heals traumatized brains and being able to come together and to do something in a loving healing way with licensed art therapist is the answer for some of these families."
The Uvalde Love Project will continue host art therapy workshops throughout the school year.
"My hope for this project is that the community heals and that when they see the mural, they see their hope, they see their resistance, they see their resiliency, they see the new beginning," said Montemayor.
To learn more about the Uvalde Love Project and how you can get involved click here.
