Painting happy little mistakes

Brady Sloane teaches 8th grade art at Madison Middle School in Abilene, Texas. She has 48 students between two pre-Advanced Placement classes, and most are low-income. Recently she noticed many students felt stressed because of their workload, so she wanted to give them a break. She decided to host a Bob Ross flash mob. After a successful fundraiser on Donors Choose, she used $500 to buy enough paints for four dozen students.

                                                   Photo by Greg Jaklewicz, Abilene Reporter-News

Then she and the students whipped up four dozen Bob Ross costumes, and found four dozen Bob Ross wigs. When the day arrived, Sloane set up a projector in the school auditorium and screened an episode of Ross's beloved TV show. With palettes in hand, and using music stands for easels, students peacefully painted their stress away while creating "happy" little accidents of their own. Sloane said the day went great. "They came in, got their wigs on, and got to work. I was so proud of them." And as you can see, the student art is very good!