It turned out that she was, and We Care Arts connected her with a lifelong passion of art, as well as her own history with art therapy.
Taylor, a domestic violence survivor, knew she had wounds left to heal that had been lingering within her for nearly 50 years.
“You have to address it. You have to get to it,” Taylor said.
In 1976, Taylor was in her third year at Wright State University when her husband at the time physically assaulted her after she received a letter in the mail letting her know that she had made the dean’s list, Taylor said.
She also didn’t know what the dean’s list was at the time. Taylor just knew that she loved learning and she loved school, she said.
But she said that, after her then-husband assaulted her, he came for her school work and artwork.
“My husband destroyed all three years of my work,” Taylor said.
Taylor was not able to finish her degree at that time, but she had been trying to go into art therapy because she realized her art skills were therapeutic.
“People are afraid to face their fears. They’re afraid to be alone with themselves and their pain,” Taylor said. “And I wanted to create activities to help reduce that angst between facing themselves and their pain.”
She was still able to use those skills to help others and to help her family when her husband would become destructive, Taylor said.
Taylor left her husband and ended up going on a long journey, which eventually brought her back to Dayton.
“This is my third time living here,” said Taylor, who was born in St. Louis and raised in Chicago.
Taylor has now been taking part in classes at We Care Arts for about two years, tracking her progress through small assessments that clients fill out at the end of classes.
“I live a very disciplined life,” Taylor said. “... You have to be disciplined to cope with your limitations.”
Taylor is also responsible and accountable, she said.
“I’m proud of myself for that. I don’t smoke or drink. My life has been unfair, but I don’t take it out on other people because my life has been unfair. I learn from it and use it to get an understanding of life,” Taylor said.
In her art classes at We Care Arts, she’s been using watercolors and also found objects to be used in collages, she said.
“The more I came, the more I would discover,” Taylor said.
Before going to We Care Arts, she would use various materials, like scraps of leftover packaging, to create art at home. Classes at We Care Arts have helped her cultivate that love of art even more.
“I began developing a new way of seeing, and my looking was fresh,” Taylor said.
Taylor is now looking at going back to school at Wright State University to finish her education.
“I’m actually considering doing that,” Taylor said. “I need to stabilize a few things in my health.”
Taylor said she is also grateful for the experiences and time she’s had at We Care Arts, as well as for the staff who run the nonprofit.
“A lot of employers don’t think about it, but the relationship that staff has with one another has a direct impact on the client,” Taylor said. “... And what I see here is the staff taking care of one another.”
The employees at We Care Arts are sincere and genuine, she said.
“They’re not just working on making a paycheck,” Taylor said.
At We Care Arts, its mission is " empowering healing through Art and Community," said Kelly Gibson, director of community engagement.
“Lana is an example of what’s possible when people feel safe to express their emotions,” Gibson said. “We serve individuals with developmental disabilities, mental health diagnoses, and substance abuse disorders helping them to be seen for their creativity rather than their disability or diagnosis.
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