Janet De La Cruz and her daughter, Skyy, work on homework together at the dining room table.(Photo Credit: Marin Austin)

“I was asleep and then I felt something dripping down my nose… I screamed, ‘Mom, my nose is bleeding!’” Skyy was five years old when her doctors diagnosed her with Kawasaki disease, a rare heart condition that only affects about 1,000 children a year in the U.S. She spent 28-days in the hospital with her mother, Janet De La Cruz, by her side. When she recovered, she never thought that the disease would have an effect on her ability to play sports. But, she was left with a hole in her coronary artery. The Doctors told Skyy that physical activity could kill her. They feared that with her condition, even a minor injury could turn fatal.

The day her doctor broke the news to Skyy and her mother, they were standing on the sidewalk on 141st street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem. Skyy remembers when her mother got off the phone with the hospital. It was below freezing outside as the two of them stood in silence for a moment.

“Mom, I can’t ice skate anymore? This sucks. It was so fun,” Skyy said. De La Cruz says she thought quickly. “I didn’t want to pigeon hole her in to being home and not being active,” she remembers. “I’m all about making your dreams come true and understanding the potential that you have. Not relying on anything to get you by, I’m a stickler for that.”

De La Cruz then saw a sign for “HSA”, Harlem School of the Arts. It’s a program aimed at enriching the lives of young New Yorkers who may not have otherwise had the opportunity to attend an arts school. The school almost closed down in April of 2010 after experiencing financial troubles. But donations of over $1 million from private funders and arts education advocates enabled the school to stay open, with the assurance of an entirely new board.

De La Cruz immediately grabbed Skyy’s hand and the two ran inside the school. When De La Cruz looked down at Skyy, her eyes were glowing in anticipation. Since that day, Skyy has been a passionate artist.

“In my art, I want to show people how I feel, where I’ve been, where I want to go, what I think my paradise would be.” One of Skyy’s biggest dreams in life is to travel the world. The native Manhattanite has lived with her mother in the Dyckman Houses since she was a toddler. “I love living public housing because it shows you New York is not some big la-tee-da place with people walking around and smiling at you. This complex is a part of what New York is and a part of who I am.”

Public housing is a part of her that her mother hopes she will someday leave behind. De La Cruz says her dreams of success for Skyy aren’t just a hope, they’re a must. And so far, Skyy seems to be well on her way to success. She has been at the Talented and Gifted Young Scholars School for over a year now. “I never thought her art would take her so far, and so early…” says De La Cruz, “she understands that her art is very expressive and it makes people feel a certain kind of way when they see it.”

In September, Byron McCray, the Director of visual arts at Harlem of the Arts recommended Skyy to be featured in the 9^th season of Lifetime’s Project Runway reality show. Designers were paired up with young artists in Episode 6 to create “avant-garde” outfits. Each designer was challenged to design a dress inspired by their partner’s painting.

Skyy was paired with Viktor Luna. She “used a lot of swirls and movement” said Luna on the show. Skyy says her painting was inspired by “the movement of water.” The chiffon dress got Luna approved by the judges and on to the next round. “I was just being myself, I forgot the camera was even there. One minute I’m painting a picture and creating a dress, the next minute I’m watching it walk down the runway.”

The next item on the mother and daughter’s agenda is getting her into New York City’s Art and Design High School. She’s already begun working on her portfolio of paintings and drawings. But, she says she wants to keep an open mind about the future. “If I narrowed my dream down, and I thought of only one specific kind of art, I wouldn’t know about all of these other beautiful things that I can express my emotions in to… I want to open my surroundings to all sorts of art.” But one thing is for sure, “I want to go to Columbia University,” she says.

Skyy’s mother says she will be alongside her daughter’s journey, every step of the way. “If you’re an educated young woman wherever you go, you will be highly respected and regarded, I want her to feel she accomplished something in her life, much greater than she ever thought at 12-years-old. So when she is a grandmother, she will have a legacy.”

After all, she says, “The sky is the limit, this is why I named her Skyy.”

Ceramic tile mural made by thirty Frederick Douglass Senior Center members. (Photo: Annie Claire Bergeron-Oliver).

Nov. 16- Maria Rodriguez has lived in NYCHA’s Frederick Douglass Houses for seven years. And for the past two years, she has participated in art classes at the Douglass Senior Center. Rodriguez says she is most proud of the collection of ceramic penguins that she has made, a pastime that she loves. Some of Rodriguez’s art is on display at the center, while some she took home to her daughters.

Thirty percent of elderly patients had brains significantly affected by cognitive impairment in a recent study conducted by the American Heart Association. Their brains were two years older than their biological age. More than 35 percent of the 8 million people living in New York City are over the age of 62, according to the New York State Department for the Aging. And they expect this number to rise. The Frederick Douglass Senior Center offers programs that keep seniors socially engaged while slowing the natural cognitive deficits associated with aging.

The seniors receive help during class from Jennifer Wade, a trained art therapist from New York University. She helps the seniors make ceramics, quilts, and drawings during their classes. At times the projects are practical- one man, made a sweater for his family because he couldn’t afford to buy one. Wade said another student, Gladice, attended the classes while battling cancer. “She visited the center weak, and still full of creativity. She picked up her vase and passed it on to her family.”

According to Wade, the art therapy classes bring together the older adults and foster a sense of community. She believes seniors generally experience a sense of disconnect and isolation in the community. For that reason, Wade prefers keeping the classes small–usually around 10 participants. She says it’s like a family. While crafting a sculpture or painting, the participants share life experiences and memories.

Social support has a profound physiological and cognitive effect on the well being of older adults, according to Dr. Ray Marks, A professor of Health and Behavior at Columbia University. He also says that getting positive feedback from somebody who is supportive can help stimulate brain activity.

Many of the participants at the senior center suffer from Arthritis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Wade says the task completion and the creative process are beneficial to their psyche and well-being. According to Dr. Marks, physical activity and art therapy have shown to mediate pain for people with osteoarthritis and other illnesses.

Because art and puzzles require individuals to focus and concentrate on one task for an extended period of time, Dr. Marks says the mindset of adults becomes more positive, symptoms of depression are lowered, and the immune system improves. “They disengage from negative thoughts and activities and negative behaviors.”

These kinds of activities require seniors to use intact neuronal pathways in the brain that would otherwise not be stimulating, according to Dr. Marks. And their consistent activation of can help improve memory, cognition and slow the rate of brain cell degeneration.

Seniors aren’t the only ones benefiting from the art therapy classes. Their ceramic sculptures of flowers and snakes have turned the center’s shelves into a garden. Wade says that the tiles and commemorative quilts add color to the center’s white walls. The seniors’ work has also been sold to local aquariums and is on exhibit in China and India.

In 2006, the Apollo Theater partnered with Significant Elders, a storytelling initiative that connects senior citizens with local youth. Previously operating as a part time program through community centers and local theaters, Significant Elders has found a new home with Tubman Elementary School students eager to learn about the history of their own neighborhood. Each week, 4th and 5th-grade students meet with the Elders to talk about life in Harlem through the decades. In the spring, students in the 5th-grade stage productions at the Apollo based on the legacies from their new friends in the classroom. Combining history and social studies with the arts allows teachers to diversify their curriculum.

Debbie Ardemendo, Director of Education at the Apollo, says that she is thrilled to see how excited the seniors are to share their stories each week. Rasheeda Ali, a 50 year Harlem resident believes it is the duty of her generation to share their stories. “We had the experience of being raised by people who were morally responsible but did not have the opportunity to express that openly and freely,” Ali said. “I kind of think of it as an obligation to those ancestors to do everything I can for the young people coming behind me.”

Tubman currently has no arts education curriculum for its kindergarten or pre-K students and Ardemendo hopes not only to expand to other grades but to more area schools. The project potentially has implications beyond the classrooms. “I hope we are teaching these kids applicable life skills so they can continue to learn. They might not remember the specifics of what every elder says but they will know how to get the information they want.”

Advocacy groups like the New York State’s Alliance for Arts Education say that incorporating some creative instruction – dance, theater, music, or visual – is a vital part of childhood development. While the diversity of arts disciplines in city public schools has grown over the past 10 years, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s recent scholastic budget cuts continue to threaten money available for hiring adequate personnel and supplies.