In her small 7-by-7-foot tent, White Eagle Arai has carved out a corner for her passion: painting pastel images of motorcycles.
The Tent City 4 resident has next to no possessions and only her art and her dog, Moe, to occupy her time, so Arai spends hours each day at her easel, perfecting pipes and tire treads.
“It’s my identity. I’ve been stripped of everything I own … It makes me more passionate, because I have nothing to lose,” she said. “I’d go crazy without it. That’s why I do it every day, like meditation.”
Arai is not alone. Many residents of the homeless encampment Tent City 4 have found solace in art, which a local educator and artist is hoping to spread throughout the camp.
Bellevue School District teacher Daya Astor has spent the last three Sundays at the encampment at Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue. Each week, she brings a car-full of yarn, colored pencils, magazines, even her grandmother’s crocheting needles for occupants to use in art projects.
At first, she assigned participants a topic: what “home” means to them. But she quickly set that aside in favor of letting them express themselves however they saw fit.
“My focus is not on the reasons for their homelessness. I didn’t want anyone to feel I was there as a social worker. I wanted to make connections and earn their trust, and give them a means of expressing themselves … Art can often connect them with past experiences and their former lives,” she said.
Astor believes art is often a thread that runs through people’s lives. She spent her childhood learning to crochet and knit from her mother.
While she has spent most of her professional life in nursing and education, she would work all day in the hospital or classroom, then go straight to her art studio, she recalled.
About a decade ago, she began working with the group Artists on the Edge, which brings art programs to people undergoing treatment for substance abuse or mental health problems. Astor also began working with the Hero House in Bellevue and autistic persons through the Kirkland Arts Center.
“What’s fulfilling for me now is working with different people and helping them integrate art into their lives,” she said.
Art is also portable, which is an important factor for the nomadic Tent City.
In the last two and a half years, Tent City 4 has relocated at least ten times. Their stays have lasted as long as a few months or as short as 20 days.
Their tenancy at Temple B’nai Torah extends through the end of September. Residents the Reporter spoke to were uncertain where they would end up next and said the process of constantly moving can be stressful.
Living in such small spaces in close proximity to one another can also create tension. Though residents said fights rarely break out, two women engaged in a verbal argument on Sept. 11 over seating at the recreation tables.
On the whole, participants like Brandi West said being creative helped them relax. During her stay at Tent City, she’s taken up beadwork, needlepoint and making her own air fresheners to de-stress while dealing with health issues.
Others use art to feel connected with family members, some of whom they haven’t seen in many years. Arai draws motorcycles in part because of her twin sons, who are both mechanics. Though they keep in touch over the phone, she hasn’t seen them in four years.
Resident Theresa Lynne said she frequently used art projects to entertain her three granddaughters. Last week, Astor helped her create gifts for their birthdays.
“If it wasn’t for this, I would be going out of my mind with boredom. I need to create,” Lynne said.
