Expressing themselves through art | News, Sports, Jobs

Correspondent photo / Bill Koch
Cecilia DiBattiste, 9, of New Middletown, does glide painting at the Helms Foundation’s ArtScape Expressive at Austintown Township Park on Saturday.

AUSTINTOWN — The township park on Kirk Road was filled Saturday with children and adults getting in touch with their creative side.

The Helms Foundation, provider of art therapy services, hosted ArtScape Expressive. This was their second such event, but the first in the park.

Terri DeGennaro started the Helms Foundation in 2018, a few years after her son, Ryan Giambattista, died in a tragic accident.

He was a visual artist and DeGennaro looked for a way to find meaning in her loss. Helms was the name her son often affixed to his work.

The agency has trained clinicians, including a Board Certified Registered Art Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselors.

They formed a partnership with Cadence Care Network in Niles for assistance with billing and clinical supervision. They have offices in Youngstown and Warren for individual therapy and provide outreach in the community, including serving 600 groups just last year.

DeGennaro said she often needs to explain what art therapy is.

“We’re not craft ladies or paint and sip people,” she said. “In art classes, they’re teaching you. In art therapy, we learn from our clients — what their needs are, where and how they want to communicate.”

It is often easier for children and even adults to express their feelings through art rather than verbally, she said.

Saturday was a chance for exposure.

“We wanted to do something where people weren’t threatened by the word therapy,” DeGennaro said.

She noted the significance of being in the park is that “art is not just a paint brush. You can make art out of anything. Not everyone can buy material. There are different things in nature you can use if you think out of the box.”

She added that the Austintown trustees and park staff have been “very supportive and helpful. It takes a village.”

Among the stations in and near the pavilions were paint in motion yoga, tie dying, nature weaving, pinch pot throwing, rock painting and glide painting.

Jeannette Cole of Liberty has her own business but volunteered to help by teaching paint in motion yoga. She said it is a “tangible sensory experience” for people to be in touch with their bodies while creating.

Lindsey Chisholm of Poland has worked as an art therapist for the Helms Foundation for two years. She said she loves the freedom art allows as well as working with people who care about the community. She was leading glide painting, where people put paint on a canvas while swinging.

Her clinical supervisor from Cadence Care Network, Nikunj Patel of Canfield, was nearby. He said the work Chisholm performs “gives a window to help people in a way they’ve never seen before. When they express themselves emotionally and physically it helps people heal.”

Others attending the event included Operation Search & Help, Trauma Therapy Center, Skye’s the Limit face painting, Veteran Service Commission, and vendors selling food and candles.

Nikunj Patel’s daughter Rowan, 6, was finishing a craft project. She said her favorite activity was pinch pot, where the participant throws a container of glitter at a canvass. Patel’s son Xavier, 7, said he likes tie dying best.

Robert Hyman of Austintown brought his grandson. He said he wasn’t familiar with the Helms Foundation but saw this as an opportunity for an outside activity.

“We can’t just have them sitting at home playing video games all day,” Hyman said.

Amber Lee of Niles saw the event advertised on Facebook and brought her children Lilah, 3, and Aria, 10.

“This is two in one. Art for me is an escape and the kids love art,” she said.

While ArtScape Expressive was designed for interacting with the public and having fun, DeGennaro stressed, “this is a profession. When people find out it’s so much more than creating art, that’s when the program has grown.”