Paint Love, a local nonprofit organization located in Decatur, Georgia, focuses on spreading art throughout Georgia’s community. Paint Love helps stimulate young minds and encourages students from all around the state to contribute to their community through art. They use connectivity to inspire creativity in students and to provide them with artistic opportunities. Paint Love creates events for artist-led projects and partners with schools and grades K-12.
Paint Love earns the funding to provide students with opportunities by partnering with businesses such as Camppeace, Wellspring Living, Kate’s Club, Georgia Center for Child Advocacy, New American Pathways and Jesse’s House. These partnerships do not gain profit from the work; instead, they choose to collaborate with Paint Love to improve their neighborhoods. These partnerships brought forth chances to work with Title 1 schools located in Cobb County, Atlanta, Fulton County and Dekalb County. This includes Dowell Elementary School, Ford Elementary School, Beacon Hill Middle School, Fickett Elementary School and Midtown High School. In 2023, 70% of Paint Love’s partnerships involved either Title 1 or specific demographics of low-income students and families.
“I love what Paint Love is doing with Georgia. I love art and I think giving students power through it is inspiring. I appreciate how they help those in need and use their platform and power as something to help rather than something for money,” sophomore Grier Coats said.
Paint Love supplies three program themes followed throughout their projects: art as a response, art as prevention and art as advocacy. Their artwork and events highlight difficult circumstances that communities experience such as poverty and trauma, bringing attention to the struggles and inspiring students. This art as a response event took place at the Decatur Education Foundation, which allowed students to write and share poetry after a student committed suicide.
Their program for suicide prevention especially helps students learn social-emotional skills, bringing students to learn self-awareness, social responsibility, connection throughout communities and self-regulation. This ties students together in communities and supports kindness among children and young adults. One specific project for prevention includes the creation of a mural at the Austell Youth Innovation Center, where members could participate in painting the mural and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of their community.
As Paint Love reaches a wide population in Georgia, they continue to inspire students by using their artwork as advocacy. During specific months or events highlighting communities, Paint Love chooses to recognize those holiday events and show their support. For example, for Black History Month Paint Love visited Roswell, Georgia and hosted a sequence of community projects highlighting black artists.
Paint Love’s events are categorized into four different activities, each specifically tailored to the skill level, age group and time limit of their partnerships. This includes large group activities for one-time events, murals and collaborative installations. For younger demographics, Paint Love provides movement and art activities that combine elements of yoga, dance and play with art and small group activities that focus on a single population or group to provide communities with needed focus.
“When I first saw Paint Love I met these people working on a mural in Midtown Atlanta as I was there for a speech competition. I was just walking around and I saw them painting a mural. I thought it was so cool, I went to talk to them and they were so sweet and explained what they do. I think what they’re doing for Georgia is so cool because they’re spread out and not just in one area and they help people and students specifically in poverty through their artwork. I like how open they are to volunteers and how they are truly trying to do something good,” magnet sophomore Skye Pierre said.
Paint Love continues to work with communities and reach new lengths through their consistent hard work around Georgia. Students, children and adults can join their program by visiting their website or social media where they can sign up to volunteer for any kind of event, join the summer camp program or even potentially join a part of their team through employment.
