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At open house in The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts on Thursday, August 18 the workshop on art-therapy was held.  The workshop was inspired by the LCVA’s current exhibition My Ukraine, which features work created during the outbreak of the current war in Ukraine. Panelist Anastasiia Cifers traveled with her husband Luther throughout the country to aid fellow citizens in their escape to Poland.  Once in Warsaw, where housing and care was provided, the Ciferses gave the children art supplies so that they might process their pain, anxiety, and confusion through art. Every evening these children – all under the age of 14 - create works of art to find some sense of comfort during a traumatic and violent time.

“Created by children, the My Ukraine exhibition speaks volumes about the power of community and the importance of art as an expression of fear, anger, and hope. All are enhanced - the viewer increases understanding and empathy and the artist processes their personal experience which promotes eventual growth and healing,” remarked Dr. Walls-McKay. 

In addition to Dr. Maureen Walls-McKay (Dean of Wellness and Director of Longwood University’s Counseling and Psychological Services), the panel includes individuals who have incorporated therapeutic art techniques into their daily practice: Mindy Osborn (Upper School Counselor and Registrar, Fuqua School), Todd Stonnell (Licensed Professional Counselor and Registered Art Therapist), Anastasiia Cifers (Gender, Social Inclusion and Governance Expert, VNG International, Kyiv, Ukraine), and Emily Grabiec (LCVA Director of Education and Outreach).

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The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts was visited by the First Lady of the State of Virginia Mrs. Yanking with her teamr. Ms. Youngkin met with LCVA staff, University management, Farmville community leaders and active community representatives. During the visit, Mrs. Youngkin had an online teleconference with the representative of the Ukrainian Parliament - congresswoman Maria Mezentseva, who is deputy head of the committee on integration of Ukraine with the European Union in the Parliament, head of the subcommittee on approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU legislation, head of the Permanent Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Mrs. Yangkin also carefully studied the drawings of Ukrainian children at the "My Ukraine" exhibition, noted the special talent of the authors and the emotional richness of the presented work. The First Lady also kindly expressed solidarity and support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in these dark times.

https://www.facebook.com/firstladysuzannesyoungkin 

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«Our original intent was just to give the refugee children something to do to distract them from the war and to keep their minds occupied, since they were constrained to cramped living quarters. At first, we weren’t even sure they would use the supplies. But to our surprise, painting soon became a nightly outlet for them.

We found that the things these kids were dealing with created a lot of "whys", but offered few answers.  This created great unspoken emotions in their hearts, and they readily expressed these emotions in art. Our project is designed to encourage the children to share these emotions, and in doing so, we say to them, "You are not alone. We are with you, the whole world is with you, and we all support you."

Another important component of this project highlights the resourcefulness of the Ukrainian people. The actions of every day citizens, both small and heroic, are changing the outcome of this war. With this in mind, we realized that we could empower these children to make a difference through their artistic expressions. Through fundraising efforts, our project aims to give children the opportunity to act as advocates and actors who can change the situation for the better and save someone's life».

Luther and Anastasiia Cifers

You can support the families by donating to the Cifers Foundation at the following link:

https://cifersfoundation.humanitru.com/donate?page=donation-page-1a0c7681-df89-454f-b259-4232032dc919&amount=100&options=100%2C75%2C50%2C25%2C10&ach=show&address=optional

More is on The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts website

https://lcva.longwood.edu/exhibitions/my-ukraine

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The Cyphers Foundation received unique leaflets in one copy of each of our partners "We believe in victory!". From now, if you make a donation of $ 100 or more through our site http://cifersfoundation.org/to-donate, you will automatically receive a wonderful gift card by post-mail.

More about our partners. The project "Virymo u Peremogu!" ("We believe in Victory!") collects children's drawings about war and peace in Ukraine. These drawings are a projection of Ukrainian reality - the horrors of the war, but at the same time, they are full of hope for peace, kindness, love and support. Our main goal is to support Ukrainian fighters, those who went to defend our country, who had to leave their homes, family and friends. Our volunteers in Ukraine help to distribute the drawings in the hospitals and at the military checkpoints. We also want to help the children of Ukraine affected by the war by participating in the collection of funds for their treatment. We collect drawings from kids from all over the world, who want to express their support for Ukraine.

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