PANTING WITH PURPOSE &
THE POWER OF COMING TOGETHER TO CREATE
Painting with Purpose is a team-building exercise that guides artists & non-artists of all abilities through a self-evolved painting to reclaim their lives through the exploration of their past, present, and future depicted through colors, shapes, and discussions about community. Participants are provided art supplies and a canvas to paint and discuss evolving feelings about their expectations, progress, and satisfaction with their painting. The discussions are prompted by interruptions in the painting activity when participants are asked to switch canvases among one another at multiple stages throughout the workshop. While creating opportunities to draw parallels between the painting activity and life, the objective is to inspire discussion about how our individual actions affect the rest of us and the importance of not only painting with purpose but also living with purpose.
Testimonials
On behalf of the students and faculty of the Ed.D. program in Educational Leadership at Duquesne University, I send our profound gratitude for the significant learning–learning that changes how one understands and acts in the world–you facilitated last Tuesday.
Each cohort now has canvases displayed in their respective classrooms. Break-time discussions of how to share them and [the]story they represent abound.
Parts of each of you were strangers [to] the rest of us. You shared your lived experience and the expertise that derives from that experience. Thanks for helping us build gracious space in this emerging learning community.
With enormous respect, I am.
Sincerely,
Rick
Rick McCown, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Director, Ed.D. in Educational Leadership: Leadership that Engages the Mind, Heart, & Spirit in the Moment of Action
Professor and Past Pierre Schouver, C.S.Sp. Endowed Chair in Mission
Department of Educational Foundations & Leadership: Working across boundaries, aspiring for social justice
Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, PA
Each cohort now has canvases displayed in their respective classrooms. Break-time discussions of how to share them and [the]story they represent abound.
Parts of each of you were strangers [to] the rest of us. You shared your lived experience and the expertise that derives from that experience. Thanks for helping us build gracious space in this emerging learning community.
With enormous respect, I am.
Sincerely,
Rick
Rick McCown, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Director, Ed.D. in Educational Leadership: Leadership that Engages the Mind, Heart, & Spirit in the Moment of Action
Professor and Past Pierre Schouver, C.S.Sp. Endowed Chair in Mission
Department of Educational Foundations & Leadership: Working across boundaries, aspiring for social justice
Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, PA
Things I would like to point out about yesterday [at the Blasco library]:
Staff had no idea who Antonio is nor did they know the extent of his story. I heard many people relating to his story yesterday and today, emphasizing the parts that resonate individually. In that hallway (while I was there) were individuals that are at odds with one another. Yet some of them were complimenting each other and helping each other. There was laughter and genuine enthusiasm echoing up and down that hallway (a very foreign thing lately). Staff took creative liberty to paint things that meant something to them which I truly believe was the most important part.
It was absolutely a community experience for me and I spent a lot of time today just walking up and down the hall taking in all the individual parts of the mural. It made me happy.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Patty
Staff had no idea who Antonio is nor did they know the extent of his story. I heard many people relating to his story yesterday and today, emphasizing the parts that resonate individually. In that hallway (while I was there) were individuals that are at odds with one another. Yet some of them were complimenting each other and helping each other. There was laughter and genuine enthusiasm echoing up and down that hallway (a very foreign thing lately). Staff took creative liberty to paint things that meant something to them which I truly believe was the most important part.
It was absolutely a community experience for me and I spent a lot of time today just walking up and down the hall taking in all the individual parts of the mural. It made me happy.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Patty
Voices for Juvenile Justice Conference (October 13, 2023)
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Blasco Memorial Library (October 9, 2023)Library workers are among the coolest people on the face of the earth. I had the pleasure of leading 85 of them at the Erie County Blasco Memorial Library during a one-day mural workshop that yielded as many smiles and memorable moments as there are books on the library's shelves. Thank you all for welcoming me into your space and your willingness to participate and for leaving an indelible mark on my heart and the 78ft long wall we painted.
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SafeNet (2021 & 2023)In 2021 I became the first Community Teaching Artist with Erie Arts & Culture in addition to working with organizations like SafeNet to lead a Painting With Purpose workshop and the Pennsylvania Art Education Association Counsel to lead Instrumental Abstractions where I provided painting instructions for art educators to consider when introducing and modeling painting in the classroom.
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Duquesne University (July 11, 2023)I met a wonderful group of people today while my wife and I led an art workshop for the 2026, 2025, and 2024 Education Leadership cohort of doctoral students and faculty at Duquesne University. Thank you all for welcoming us and especially to Dr Rick McCown for the invitation.
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Jhonae's Birthday Party (Feb 19, 2023)Thank you, Chicoya and John, for inviting me to share in Jhonae's 6th-year birthday celebration. It may have been a unicorn-themed paint party for her, but it ended up being an opportunity for self-healing for me by providing another reason to smile and be who I wish adults were to me during my childhood: sources of joy and creative inspiration. This was truly one of the highlights of my artistic career.
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Erie Insurance (Sept. 30, 2022)I am grateful to have participated in this day of community building at the 2022 Inaugural Diversity Summit hosted by Erie Insurance. The week-long celebration ended with an artistic finale led by me and Erie's Affinity Network Teams. It was empowering to inhabit a space where so many different people worked together toward the same goal: to normalize the best in us all. I saw so many genuine smiles that day that when I met many of the same people a month later at a different event, I didn't recognize them until they smiled. This experience left an indelible impression on me. In my experience as a member of the BIPOC community and a convicted felon, I've come to understand the healing effects that being included has on the soul. To be included is to be valued and leaves a very different impression on the human psyche than being valuated. It's important to make the distinction here because the supporting arguments for DEI are usually either about the importance of diverse people as human beings (Value) or the assessment of the fair market value of humans as employees (Valuation). It's easy to confuse the two if both roads lead to inclusion. But the treatment of those of us included can expose which DEI argument we have to thank for our inclusion. Thank you for including me in a way that made me feel valued.
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Friendship Towers (August 27, 2020)In 2022, I was invited to lead Painting with Friends at Friendship Towers and learned that laughter is a medium as versatile and vibrant as paint.
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Erie Insurance (June 17, 2022)I was invited to lead Convos & Canvas for Erie Insurance and the African American Affinity Network during its 2022, Juneteenth celebration. It was an honor to continue in the tradition of our grandmothers by creating an excuse to bring us together no matter how far apart we grow.
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EA&C End of Year Variety Show (Dec. 5, 2020)This video depicts Antonio Howard demonstrating how to paint a still life in an episode of Painting with Antonio filmed for Erie Arts & Culture's 2021 annual End of Year Variety Show.
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