If there is a gene for being an artist, it definitely skipped right over me.

Anyone who has played Draw Something with me knows that when the clue is anything harder than “sun” I just write words and tell my opponent the answer. Which would be fine if the game were called Write Something. Needless to say, I don’t get a lot of offers to play with people.

My sister, on the other hand, is amazing at art. And my sister-in-law is a full-blown art teacher, y’all. I am surrounded by mad skillz.

My children love art, and I am grateful every single day that they have the opportunity to get their glitter on with art at school. Because around here, we pretty much have a few broken crayons and some torn up, half-colored in coloring books for their entertainment. They adore the creations they bring home from school. We proudly display them all over the house prominently, which not only boots their self-esteem, but also decreases my need for decorating budget. A win-win.

It always makes me sad when I read about art budgets being slashed in schools, because I genuinely believe in children needing to express their creativity in that way. I greatly admire art teachers who work hard every day to help their students explore their imaginations-teachers like my sister-in-law, who dedicates herself to making art fun and accessible for all the children she teaches.

Students made ornaments to give to teachers at school. So sweet!

So, when offered the opportunity to help her directly with a really exciting project for her advanced middle school art students, we jumped at the chance.

Thanks to Blick Art Materials and their program called Art Room Aid, she is being given the chance to receive materials from a wish list that she created to aid in an effort to help her students create 3-D Architectural Letters. She shared with me the reason for choosing this particular project:

The students will create 3-dimensional letters using a papier-mâché technique. After the letters are constructed, they will have the option of decorating their letter with a painting technique or collage.

I am very excited about this project because it is a fantastic opportunity to try something different. Up until now we have mainly worked with 2 dimensional art such as drawing, painting, and pastels on paper. This will be a great project for the students to expand on the skills they have learned and create a three-dimensional sculpture! I know they will be excited!

Knowing her talent and having seen examples of the work her students have been doing this year, we have no doubt that this project will be a big success!

A student’s tribute to the state of Louisiana which has been chosen to hang in the mayor’s office for a year!

If you would like to contribute to this wonderful cause and help some amazingly talented students in Louisiana create a masterpiece, you can click on this link to fund the project.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of The Motherhood and Blick Art Materials, but all of the opinions, photos and references to Louisiana are our own.