GLASGOW, Ky. — For many, making sense of emotion in the midst of crisis can be difficult. Mikayla Powell knows how to help.

Powell, a 2013 Glasgow High School graduate, returned to her alma mater Wednesday to guide students in Jennifer Fritsch’s Glasgow Middle School art classes through an exercise she uses in her work as an art therapist.

Powell works at The Brook, a Louisville psychiatric hospital, where she began as an intern before becoming an art therapist. She now works four days a week with patients experiencing severe psychological distress.

“It's when people are at their lowest low,” Powell said. “They're ready to commit, they're ready to end whatever life they're going through. We're there to build them back up, stabilize them for a short term and send them on their way with discharge information of facilities or long term placements.”

An intervention to express emotions

Students began by scribbling, rather than drawing, an emotion from their week and selecting colors they associated with it beforehand.

Many chose red, linking it to anger or stress, while others selected cooler tones like green and blue to represent joy and sadness.

“The intervention is basically about releasing your negative emotions and releasing them, showing them that they don't have to be stuck in that emotion,” Powell said.

Powell then had students tear up their work and asked what it meant to destroy it.

Several said it felt like erasing the emotion; Powell said that response is common among patients who struggle to let go of feelings they hold tightly.

The torn paper was left in piles across desks as students left for lunch. When they returned, they were asked to rebuild an image that brings them joy from the fragments of their previous work.

“The last little boy, he did a few hearts,” Powell said. “That was for each of his family members. That's what brought him joy.”

Powell said she always knew she wanted art to be a part of her future career.

“Mrs. Fritsch was the first person to tell me about art therapy,” she said.

After some research, she found a program at the University of Louisville to pursue an education to become an art therapist.

Visiting artists at Glasgow Middle School

Each spring, Fritsch calls on an artist to spend the day with her students, showing them that art is more than a hobby. The school's National Junior Art Honor Society oversees the effort to host a visiting artist.

The NJAHS is an invitation-only program that recognizes students who exhibit more than artistic talents. The club seeks students who are service-oriented, for example.

“Some of the kids may not be the most talented, but they love it,” Fritsch said.

In 2015, Adonna Khare was the first artist to spend the day with students. Since 2021, Fritsch has selected local artists and former students as visiting artists.

“I keep up with them and see what they do, and the difference that they're making, and was like, ‘You know, kids need to see that,’” Fritsch said.

The NJAHS expects to host fundraisers or solicit donations next year to keep the visiting artist program alive, Fritsch said. Money raised from Kelsey Montague's visit a few years ago is mostly depleted.

“It's all fundraising. We are basically running out of money,” Fritsch said.

Visiting artists are paid for their time and expenses associated with visiting for the day. Each year, the day ends with an art showcase for the community.

“So many people think that art ed is just playtime, something that only certain kids take,” Fritsch said. “My whole goal is to show that everybody can be creative, and we are all creative in different ways.”