Kids' artwork helps other kids heal

Eleven-year-old Lauren Kammerer said she thought "for a long time" about what subject to use for a Christmas card art project. Finally, she settled on drawing the "Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus."

Lauren's artwork was among 17 pieces of kids' art selected for the 2007 Holiday Cards for Kids program by Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. Proceeds from the sale of the holiday cards go to enhance the children's programs at the hospital.

Sixth-grader Lauren said, "The artwork of the Holy Family captured the true meaning of Christmas." She said earlier thoughts of Santa and other holiday images just didn't seem right.

Thirteen-year-old Jordyn Jeck was another kid from St. Paul's Catholic School in Fenton who had second-thoughts about a proper piece of Christmas art.

The 8th grader said, "I started with a baby opening presents on Christmas morning. But, my baby looked evil so I changed." The image she settled on was a cartoon-like picture of a reindeer.

In addition to artwork by Lauren and Jordyn, two other St. Paul's students whose artwork was picked by the Glennon judges were 12-year-old Madison Streb and 11-year-old Courtney West. The girls all live in Fenton.

For Lauren, the Glennon art selection was her second winning artwork of 2007. She said she also was a winner in a Knights of Columbus anti-drug poster competition.

All the girls were students of art teacher Ms. Susan Crowe at St. Paul's last year. That's when the individual artwork was entered in the Glennon card competition.

(If you'd like to see all 17 of the 2007 Cardinal Glennon Holiday Cards for Kids, you can visit www.glennon.org. Then, click on the Cards for Kids icon on the left side of the home page. The site also includes instructions for ordering boxes of cards for your holidays.)

Sixth-graders Madison and Courtney are at different schools this year. Madison is at Rockwood South Middle School while Courtney is at Sperreng Middle School.

Madison's winning entry is entitled "Christmas Dogs."

She said, "I looked at entries from previous years and I wanted to do something different. I like dogs. Who doesn't like dogs, especially at Christmas."

Her card shows four dogs with Santa hats sitting next to a decorated tree.

Courtney's artwork is a little more conventional. Entitled "Santa and Reindeer," the card shows Santa and the reindeer flying in the sky with a full moon in the background.

She said, "Children will think of presents when they see this card."

This was the first time any of the girls' artwork won in the Glennon card judging.

All of the girls started doing artwork when they were quite young.

For instance, Lauren said she started drawing when she was in pre-school. "I have a whole stack of pictures at home," she said.

Jordyn said she started drawing in kindergarten. She said she got inspiration from a grandfather, who liked to paint murals.

"He painted a mural for a guy who wanted the mural all around his basement," she said.

Madison said she also started in kindergarten. "I was best friends with a girl whose father was an artist. He did a lot of art."

Courtney said her great grandfather got her started when she was little. "He would color in a picture book with me. He taught me how to color," she said.

The kids are doing artwork this year and hope to continue their interest as they get older. However, none of them said they had any plans for doing art as a career.

Lauren said she has tried painting and clay sculpture. About sculpture, she said, "I wasn't very good at it. I think I'm better at drawing."

Jordyn said she tried clay sculpture and "I was satisfied with it." She said her best effort was the figure of a cow, which she has on display at her home.

But, she said she's now making paper mache figures. Her favorite is Oscar the Grouch, one of the Sesame Street characters.

The closest any of the girls came to including art in her career plans was Madison. She said she would like to be a clothes designer when she grows up. Lauren said she's thinking about being an author, "unless I get a new interest."

Jordyn and Courtney said they had no career plans as yet.