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Report for America is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities.

Caricature Fun At Rockford Art Museum

https://www.facebook.com/rockfordartmuseum/?ref=page_internal
Cartoon drawing of a unicorn.

A northern Illinois art museum is following up Saturday morning cartoons with afternoon caricature fun.

The Rockford Art Museumhas a youth Cartoon Club. Jaymee Fedor is the education and engagement manager at the museum. She said she recently moved back to Rockford from Philadelphia, where she had a community of children who attended her drawing workshops at the library where she taught.

“And so, when I brought this concept here to the museum, I wanted to really emphasize the community aspect and the camaraderie that I saw happening among the kids in my classes,” Fedor said.

Fedor mentioned that it’s not just a drawing group but also a support group for inexperienced artists. She explained that some children are great cartoonists. 

“But there are kids who you know, especially around age, you know, seven, eight, nine where kids can kind of lose their confidence with drawing,” she explained, “they may try to draw their favorite cartoon and it looks messed up and they want to give up.”

Fedor stated that she will break things down step-by-step even if it means one squiggle at a time.

She's suggesting that children need a break during this pandemic and that drawing is a very focused activity, which she said can give the youth a sense of relaxation.

Children ages six and up are welcome. The cost for non-members is $10. Museum members only pay $5. Each drawing session will have a theme. There were plans for in-person classes, but these were canceled due to COVID-19 mitigation efforts. The Saturday virtual Zoom classes started Nov. 28 but they aren’t every week. The schedule can be found at the museum’s website.

  • Yvonne Boose is a 2020 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
Yvonne covers artistic, cultural, and spiritual expressions in the COVID-19 era. This could include how members of community cultural groups are finding creative and innovative ways to enrich their personal lives through these expressions individually and within the context of their larger communities. Boose is a recent graduate of the Illinois Media School and returns to journalism after a career in the corporate world.