Youths craft art to look up to

A longtime haven for children in crisis gradually is getting a little homier.

For the last 14 years, Flathead Youth Home has provided shelter to children and teenagers in need of a refuge. The nonprofit has welcomed hundreds of children going through a variety of crises and given them a place to stay for as long as they need, from several days to several months.

An average stay at Flathead Youth Home is about three weeks. It may be a short time, but Hannah Plumb, the home’s development assistant, said she hopes the house can feel like a home to kids whose lives are chaotic.

“So many things in the kids’ lives that they come from are not traditional,” Plumb said. “If we can provide stability through traditional pieces, I feel like we’re doing what we should be doing.”

The house, located in Kalispell at the corner of Eighth Avenue East and East Oregon Street, was built to look like a house, not an institution, she said, adding that she wants the inside to be just as inviting. To achieve that, Plumb wants to bring more art into the building.

The home’s cavernous living room is full of comfortable-looking furniture and friendly bookcases. Its many windows let in plenty of light. But earlier this year, something was missing, Plumb said.

“I love this space. It’s beautiful. But the walls are so big and bare,” she said. “We want to make it feel a little bit homey.”

Flathead Youth Home has taken some steps to bring art into the large space. Last spring, Stumptown Art Studio worked with youths at the house to create an enormous mobile that now hangs from the living room’s tall ceiling.

Christy O’Neil, one of Stumptown’s certified instructors, worked with the youths to create colorful glass vases, which then were secured to a steel star that hangs by chains from the ceiling.

The project was funded by a $1,500 grant from Target Corp. Some people don’t like it when big box stores come into communities, but those large companies have their benefits, Plumb said.

“They bring a lot of support and resources for the community they’re in,” she said.

The money allowed two local not-for-profit groups to work together, Plumb added.

“One of the things I really love about it is it was our kids working with Stumptown, another great nonprofit, through the financial backing of the Target Foundation,” she said.

It wasn’t the first time Flathead Youth Home had worked with Stumptown Art Studio. Executive Director Melanie Drown and Plumb are friends and their organizations have collaborated for several years, Drown said.

“We feel strongly that a key component of the [kids’] experience when they’re there is exposure to the arts,” she said. “There are so many benefits to having the kids use their creativity to work together collaboratively.”

Some of those benefits are therapeutic, Plumb said. Interacting and making connections with artists are part of the therapy, as is the act of creating art.

“The creative piece can be fun and healing. Therapeutic,” Plumb said.

Artwork can help the kids in other ways as well, Drown said.

“That population, at-risk youth, I think it just shows them a broader perspective, learning team-building skills, learning there’s no right or wrong answer to things, no set way to create something,” she said. “I feel it empowers those youth.”

Plumb hopes to incorporate more art into the house by working with artists in the Flathead Valley. She said the home would welcome the opportunity to work with other local artists, and she is hoping some artists might want to display pieces in Flathead Youth Home. Perhaps the home could switch out the art every six months, Plumb suggested.

“I would love to do that, to make that connection to the community and make [Flathead Youth Home] feel homier,” she said.

Those interested may contact Flathead Youth Home at 755-4622.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.