During a typhoon or very bad weather, bamboo may bend to the ground. But when the sun comes up, the plant stands straight and tall again. Not easily broken, bamboo is a symbol of nobility and strength.

That is a lesson Toby Richards shared this summer with incarcerated students at the Vacca McNeel Campus in Birmingham.

Richards recently introduced Vacca students, at-risk boys ages 12-17, to art during four virtual sessions. Students not only gained insights about painting; they came away with a fresh outlook on their world. Richards, a world-renowned artist, muralist, educator and museum curator, sought to instill in these youngsters a hope for the future, beyond Vacca’s red-brick walls.

Indeed, for these wards of the court, the art classes were a respite and a glimmer of hope to the possibilities in life.

Vacca students at a virtual art class led by Toby Richards this summer. (Eric Wright / Vacca Campus)

“These were therapeutic art sessions,” said Vacca math instructor Eric Wright, who partnered with Richards, director of the Arlington Historic House and Gardens in Birmingham, in offering the virtual classes.

The art program is the brainchild of Wright and the Lifting as We Climb Foundation, which serves to uplift and mentor at-risk youth in Birmingham. To help with the project, the Alabama Power Foundation, which sponsors Summer Adventures in Learning, awarded a 2023 Elevate Grant to Lifting as We Climb. That’s how Richards’ art class became part of Vacca’s summer curriculum.

“It was a good break from what we normally do because we don’t have an art teacher,” said Wright, an 18-year employee at the Vacca Campus, a multifaceted, secure juvenile correctional facility in Birmingham. Wright serves as a mentor through Lifting as We Climb, which has existed since 2017.

Richards’ art classes went hand in hand with math concepts that Wright was teaching. For instance, as Wright taught about how to do fractions, Richards directed students in a mixed-media project where they cut geometric squares to understand symmetry and learned the vocabulary words associated with the math lesson.

Toby Richards is a recognized expert in sumi-e, a form of Japanese art, and is an internationally renowned muralist. (contributed)

During one of four art sessions, Richards showed students her artwork, featuring the Japanese art form, sumi-e.

“We used music, connecting with the Alabama state course of studies, for that particular class level, and through art, movement, painting, materials and texture, showed a different element of art,” said Richards, who has directed more than 100 murals and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art Studio from UAB. She is a former artist in residence at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

“The students were really receptive to it,” Wright said. “It worked for all of us, not just the students. It gave them a chance to relax and feel like they were in a safe environment to do the art.”

Richards suggested that they play music and allow students to draw, based on the description she gave them. During the 20-minute sessions, the middle- and high school students used colored pencils and markers to create relaxing, beach-like scenes.

“This is something that we’re going to try to continue during the regular school year, as well,” said Wright, who noted that students also did a public presentation for Juneteenth.

The delicate Japanese art form sume-i, created by Richards. (Toby Richards)

The delicate Japanese art form sume-i, created by Richards. (Toby Richards)

The delicate Japanese art form sume-i, created by Richards. (Toby Richards)

The program will build on the work Wright does every day to try to improve life for the youngsters, a diverse group of young men from throughout Alabama.

“I talk to the students about conflict resolution, leadership, choices and decisions,” said Wright, who graduated from Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana; received his master’s degree in mathematics education from Alabama State University in Montgomery; and earned his doctorate from Concordia University in Portland, Oregon. “I enjoy both being able to work with the boys directly, considering their troubled backgrounds, because I have a lot to share with them regarding decisions, but I also love teaching math, at whatever level they’re at, to see them improve and have a little more confidence as a person.

“Math is such that, people find it so difficult, it makes some students feel like they’re not worthy because they can’t catch on,” Wright added. “To have them make gains in math and get confidence is really another thing I enjoy. Just working directly with the at-risk boys and teaching them how to count and to do math.”

In addition to expanding the summer program, the Elevate Grant from the Alabama Power Foundation helped cover the cost of providing math and reading literacy tests for each student. To help bring kids’ math skills up to speed, Wright individualizes each student’s lesson plan based on the pre-test they take when they arrive.

“It really helped us because the students were more comfortable taking that type of test in the classroom as opposed to when they are first on campus,” Wright said. “We got better results in the post-test and were able to do some creative intervention. The finding really allowed us to expand on their educational experiences. A lot of them have missed a lot of school.”

Members of Lifting as We Climb also take part in a mentoring program at Vacca, held in-person and virtually. The Beta Nu chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity of Shelby County has a bank of more than 200 volunteers, with at least 70 men serving as mentors. Representatives from juvenile justice and Second Chance Lifesavers from the Jefferson County Youth Detention Center also work with the students.

“It’s important that we have community people come in,” Wright said. “These students are back here behind the fence, and they feel like this is what their world is now. Other people can come in from the outside and be just as kind and nonjudgmental, and students pick up on it. They’re kids, and they’re going to respond like kids do. They appreciate it in their own ways.”

Richards reminded Vacca students to stand straight and tall, like the noble bamboo. (Toby Richards)

Richards, who has a son, plans to continue partnering with Lifting as We Climb to help young people in her community.

“I told the young men that sumi-e art is unlike traditional painting, where acrylic dries, and you can paint over it if you make a mistake,” Richards said. “When you lay the ink on the rice paper, it absorbs so quickly — you only have one chance to put forth your best work and there’s no chance to erase. But in life, you do have a second chance at redemption.

“Continue to stand … stand straight and tall, like bamboo,” she advised.