High Desert Middle School eighth-grader Morgan Enger approached June Miller with a timid gait in the Cascades of Bend Assisted Living dining room. The teen was revealing her hand-drawn, finished portrait.

The eighth-grader held up her framed artwork. The 93-year-old clapped softly. Miller seemed as excited to see the girl as she was to see the artwork. Soft pencil against a blue watercolor background captured the gentle lines of Miller’s face, hair and crow’s feet.

“Oh I admire that!” Miller said. “I can’t draw a straight line. This is gorgeous.”

Enger’s presentation to Miller on Tuesday was the result of a project by High Desert Middle School students from Marcy Monte’s advanced art class. Most of the 14 elders were paired with two of the 24 students, so the seniors received two portraits: one they could keep and one they could give to their family.

The overall goal of the project that began in February was as much an opportunity to advance the students’ drawing skills as it was to expose the teens to men and women in their 80s and 90s in an effort to broaden the children’s understanding of senior citizens.

“We have a young culture. We have kids here. I don’t even know if any of them spend time with elders,” said Monte, an art teacher at High Desert Middle School.

“They’re wise,” she added. “I would love to see kids come together with older people as mentors.”

Meet and greet

Monte made the students create lists of questions to ask residents during the initial meeting at the assisted living facility. The children’s mission was to get to know them better.

When the day came for the seventh- and eighth-graders to interview the seniors, the scene inside the facility was as awkward as an adolescent’s first dance. But the shy teens seemed to make instant connections with the residents.

“I usually ain’t that talkative, but I’ve got two beautiful young ladies here,” said Stanley Ernest Matwiejow.

“We talked about growing up on the farm. I grew up on a dairy farm, a small dairy farm,” he said. “We had about 18 to 20 head of cows that we milked, and harvested hay.”

Most residents didn’t hesitate to open up to students, quickly sharing details of their past and personal lives. In a mere hour, eighth-grader Sabrina Zavala learned a lot about Miller.

“She had a really rough childhood,” she recalled a couple weeks after the meeting. “She loves dancing. She’s really good at bingo. She was born by the coast here in Oregon.”

Students listened intently during the interviews, noting things that were important to elders and could be emphasized in the backgrounds of their drawings.

“I chose watercolor because I wanted it to look like the elements that represent Oregon — the mountains, the lakes, the sky,” Zavala said. She’d spoken to Miller about her time in Oregon.

Jaidyn Dekruyf and Makanna Frey drew pictures of Ireland in the background of Helen Roberts’ portrait after speaking with her about her Irish heritage and a special visit to Ireland.

Piper Brannin included a watercolor painting of a horse in the background of Diana Kenter’s portrait because the two bonded over a mutual love of horseback riding.

“My great-grandma doesn’t really talk that much about her childhood, and it was really cool to hear it from another person,” Brannin said.

After the introduction, students sent hand-written letters to the residents thanking them for their time and sharing something about them.

“I’m glad I get to draw you. I have a question for you, do you have a typewriter or did you used to have one? Also, have you ever been to Disneyland?” Dekruyf wrote to Roberts.

“It’s so amazing to hear your story. You’re so incredibly sweet, and I’m so glad I get to draw you,” Frey said in her thank-you note to Roberts.

At the final presentation, Roberts pulled out both thank-you notes. She had tucked them inside a compartment in her walker for safe keeping.

Framed faces

Because Monte’s class is advanced art, the students’ skills are well-developed. The goal when drawing a portrait is to achieve likeness to the subject.

While walking down the middle-school hallway, a sixth-grader easily recognized the portrait of his great-grandmother that Brannin had drawn.

For many of the students, art is an important motivator in school and gives them a sense of purpose, Monte explained.

“Art is a huge outlet for a lot of the children in this class,” she said.

Students were free to use the medium of their choice for this project, although most used pencil, colored pencil or watercolor. The students also framed the drawings.

In the weeks leading up to the introduction, students practiced drawing hands, wrinkles and eyes.

“I learned that older people are harder because the wrinkles are really hard to draw; you have to get the right shade,” said eighth-grader Eric Peters.

The class also discussed how to draw white or gray hair against a background.

“At this age anything they can learn the basis of — measurement, shading, light source, texture, value, the seven elements of design — will help them build confidence,” Monte explained.

The big reveal

Smiles abounded when the students presented the portraits inside the assisted living center. Residents were happy to have the students back in their presence and see the work they had done.

“We get a few kids come in, but they’re usually with their families. A couple of them I got to know a little bit, but most of them I didn’t get to know very well,” Matwiejow said.

He said the students, Rebekah Connor and Emma Lewis, “did an excellent job, they both did,” with his portraits.

Roberts pushed her walker over to the elevator to walk out Dekruyf and Frey before they boarded the school bus.

“Love you bunches,” she said, as she gave Dekruyf a quick side hug. “Tell your mom you’re a very special girl.”

After the presentation, Brannin said, “I think it’s really important to learn about the past because then you don’t repeat it in the future, and it’s cool to hear their stories and stuff when the times were so different.”

The day after the presentation, Zavala commented her favorite part of the experience was “just making the gift in general for (Miller), for her family.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0351 or mcrowe@bendbulletin.com