a very young, determined, talented and prolific artist

Blaise's decorated banana fiber doll made for the CTT 2011 fundraiser 

One of our Change the Truth doll artists is the incredibly talented ceramic artist, Amy Meya. She has two cool sons. One is Blaise, who did a doll for CTT (one of my favorites ever). Blaise has an older brother named Gaston. I just saw the following on Amy's facebook page and am thrilled to pass this story along. What a cool kid Gaston is. Travail bien fait!!

"Gaston Meya is a sixth grade student at Academie Lafayette, a French language charter school in Kansas City, Mo.; all courses are taught in French allowing the students to become truly fluent in the language. To complete this learning experience all sixth grade students are invited to visit their sister school in Bayonne, France for two weeks in the spring.

The trip to France includes staying with a host family and attending the local school, they get to go on several field trips in the region (South-Western France) and then at the end of the trip they get to spend two days in Paris. The trip is not an obligation, but it is an incredible opportunity for the children to learn from their peers abroad. It is an opportunity to take the lessons of global learning to the next level. It is truly an opportunity of a lifetime for a sixth grader from Kansas City.

There are a few scholarships for the trip, but they do not cover the total cost which is around $3,700. When we began discussing the trip with Gaston, while he was in fifth grade, we were honest about the cost of the trip, and we weren't sure if we could pull it off. He decided he wanted to help contribute. He came to the conclusion that if he created a series of 500 drawings, he could make a major contribution to the 'French trip fund.' Eight months later he completed all 500, he truly created 500 drawings with 500 original titles. I have to reiterate this because it blows my mind that he accomplished his goal, although it shouldn't, when Gaston sets his mind to something, he does it. 

His love of dinosaurs and video games comes through as an obvious influence in some of his drawings, another influence is his love of the Pokemon characters."

- Amy

Gaston's drawings will be on display at the Locust Factory in Kansas City this weekend and again at the Westport Art Fair in September. He told his mom that each drawing is like sharing a fragment of his imagination. I get that!