Students in Katie Taft’s Learning Labs collaborated with her to create human-scale sculptures that filled the gallery, creating a surreal environment inhabited by imaginary friends. She had the students think about people in their lives and research myth, folklore, and fairy tales. Taft believes that creativity is the single most important tool for any person, of any age, position or place in life; it is what keeps us moving through good times and bad, in work and in play.

Two groups of youth participated with Katie in weekly workshops: Erica Wernsmann and students from Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts; Megan Brncick & Dusty Teng and youth from Adams County Connections, a program of Peer Assistance Services, Inc.

Adams County Connections, a program of Peer Assistance Services, Inc.
Natalie Ordonez-Campbell, Megan Brncick, Dusty Teng - Staff
Paige Merrigan, Cori Stott – Mentors
Students: Maria, Elizabeth, Cristina, Angela, Brittany, Charity, Jesseniah

Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts
Erica Wernsmann - Teacher
Students: Theo, Victor, Adiel

Review: This Week in Denver

‘I’ve learned at PlatteForum that there is no such thing as a stupid idea.  I learned that Katie is a generous person because she invited us to work on this project with her.  She let us make something of our own with all of her help.  It was great. She likes to influence people to share their ideas with the world.  My sculpture is bloody.  It is a dove in despair.  It has an arrow through it’s neck to symbolize pain and the fact that it is never going to get better.” Charity 

“ I am 15 years old and a student at MESA.  I am Mexican. My sculpture is called Taurus.  I used cardboard and tape, then paper mache, and I finished off with paint.  I chose the bull to be half my animal because to me the bull is my culture and used for work and farming.  It represents hard work.  I chose wings to add a sense of power and at the same time serenity.  It means a lot to me like a metaphorical resemblance to my dad since he is a hard worker and a Taurus.  I also added some of my culture into it.  That is what it is.”  Adiel