Art exhibition displays girls’ self-expression through shoes

When 7-year-old Ivy Richardson visits art galleries, she’s usually tagging along with her mom, Kelly Richardson, an assistant curator for IU.

But last Friday evening, Ivy Richardson took her mother to an art exhibit in the John Waldron Arts Center to show off the self-portrait she created.

Ivy is one of 18 girls who participated in an art workshop with Girls Incorporated of Monroe County. For two Saturdays, girls from 5 to 11 years old explored the concept of personal identity through art.

They expressed their identities symbolically by designing and painting images on shoes that reflect their personalities.

The workshop’s organizer, IU fine arts student and senior Ashley Flora, said the shoes themselves taught the girls an important lesson in defining themselves.

“If shoes don’t fit, you can’t walk in them,” she said. “I took that idea and related it to identity. Your identity is what fits you, not what others impose on you.”

Along with the shoes, the girls wrote explanations for how each object they chose to paint on their shoes relates to their personality. They also drew charcoal self-portraits and wrote artist statements.

It was during this process of creation the girls found a sense of self-confidence, Flora said.

“Whenever you create art, it makes you evaluate yourself and think about who you are,” she said. “Creativity comes from within you and makes you reflect on your ideas.”

Flora opened each workshop with a discussion on personal identity. Then the girls looked at how famous artists used symbols and colors to express themselves.

After the discussions, Flora gave the girls creative freedom to paint whatever they wished.

“I explained the project and let the girls go with it,” she said. “I left it open-ended about what they wanted to include. We talked with the girls individually about what they put on their shoes and how it represents them.”

Flora created the program as her capstone project for a minor in leadership, ethics and social action. A painter herself, Flora was working on self-portraits when she realized how easily the themes connected to identity.

She began planning the project last year under Professor Marjorie Hershey with the goal to exhibit the girls’ finished products in an art show.

“The girls love seeing their art on display,” she said. “They’re so excited, and their families appreciate seeing how their daughters perceive themselves. A father who came said he was grateful to see his daughter’s shoe because it’s a side of her personality he doesn’t see often.” 

The turnout for the art show surpassed expectations, said Rachel Dotson, the director of program services of Girls Incorporated.

Twelve of the 18 girls who participated in the workshops attended the exhibit. She said their work will stay on display until Friday in the Waldron Arts Center.

“The girls were so proud. A few came in jumping up and down, posing for photos,” she said. “They brought entire extended families, parents, grandparents, siblings.”
Kelly Richardson said any chance for her daughter to create art is helpful as she grows.

“This project gave Ivy a chance to express herself in a way she had never been asked before,” she said. “She gets dragged to a lot of art shows with me, so it’s special when she sees her own work framed on a wall in an art gallery.”