Who We Are

The decision to form Happy Art Society began from a basic want to help children dealing with grief; especially children who have lost a parent. I have seen the phrase "Be the person you needed when you were younger" quite a bit over the past few years, and it has always stuck with me. I desperately needed help after I lost my father at age 12. Unfortunately, I wasn't given help. I was given a "Be strong for your little brothers" type of "support". Nowadays, if we heard of someone treating a bereaving child in this way, we would be outraged and trust me, for many years I was. A few years ago, I started seeing a therapist for this very reason. The death of my paternal grandfather in 2021 reopened a plethora of old wounds I was hoping I would never see again, and yet there they were, standing on my doorstep, refusing to leave. I was tired of carrying this nearly 30 year old baggage everywhere I went. After seeing my therapist for a while, I started bringing art supplies to our sessions as we both loved art. What a game changer; our conversations deepened as we covered more topics. Something about creating art together took the pressure off of the session. My vision for this group is to provide children with a way to express their emotions while creating art. I have big dreams for this project, and most of these dreams stem from a desire to help grieving children. We can't cure grief, of course, but we can certainly try to make our days happier. 

Brooke Michelle