Every Child Needs These 4 Rules to Become an Artist

Part 1 of my S5E30 @schoolutionspodcast conversation, Tonya Quinn from The Kindness Art Education shares her journey, emphasizing the role of visual art and art for kids in shaping worldviews. This conversation highlights how art classes for beginners can ignite creativity and provide healing, even far from home. Tonya illuminates how personal hardship has fostered her powerful kindness movement. 

In this episode, you'll discover:
→ The 4 rules for being an artist (and why they work for every child in every classroom)
→ Why active learning and student participation skyrocket when kids feel creative ownership
→ How Portrait Pals bridges generations to fight low engagement
→ What inclusive teaching actually looks like when you hand a child primary colors and say, "You can do this"
→ Why inspiring students starts with teaching them to listen to themselves first
→ The research from Harvard's Project Zero that proves arts access improves academic performance
→ A pro-kid mindset that goes beyond survival toward whole-child thriving

Whether you're a teacher looking for innovative teaching strategies, an instructional coach searching for coaching strategies that move the needle, a school leader focused on school culture and instructional leadership, or a parent exploring the home-school connection and family partnerships,  this conversation is for you.

Some Episode Mentions:

• Harvard’s Project Zero 
• Theresa Booth Brown 
• The National Gallery
• Ana María Hernando 
• Faith Ringgold 
• Portrait Pals 
• Frida Kahlo 
• Molly Piper Greaves 
• The Kindness Art Education 

📌 Part 2 drops Friday where we go inside the full Portrait Pals process.

If this moved you, share it with a teacher, principal, parent, or school counselor who believes every child deserves to thrive, not just survive.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 — Introduction & Tonya Quinn overview
1:45 — Harvard's Project Zero research on arts & student success
4:00 — How Tonya's parents shaped her pro-kid mindset
5:20 — 20 years in London: perspective, art galleries & inclusive teaching
8:30 — Launching a nonprofit during the pandemic
9:50 — The "How to Be an Artist" curriculum & 4 rules
13:00 — Every child deserves to thrive, not just survive
14:30 — The challenge sweet spot: frustration + growth in the classroom
16:30 — Making skin tone: the hardest and proudest moment
17:45 — Lightning round with Tonya Quinn

#schoolutionspodcast #forevergettingbetter #curiositydriven  #PortraitPals 

When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.

Transcript

Olivia: [00:00:00] What if the most powerful thing you could give a child wasn't an answer, but a blank canvas and the belief that they could fill it? Today, Tonya Quinn, executive Director of The Kindness, our Education, joins Schoolutions to talk about growing up shaped by hardship, turned into kindness. Spending 20 years in London discovering that free art galleries can heal homesickness and change worldviews. And about launching a nonprofit in the middle of a pandemic because the moment called for it. This is the origin story of Portrait Pals and it starts with one big dream, one skeptical teenager, and four rules for being an artist. Here is part one of my conversation with Tonya Quinn.

This is Schoolutions, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that isn't just theory, [00:01:00] but practical try-it-tomorrow approaches for educators and caregivers to ensure every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive. 

I am so humbled and honored to have Tonya Quinn with us on the podcast today. Let me tell you a little bit about Tonya. Tonya Quinn is the Executive Director of The Kindness Our Education, while based in London, Tonya had 10 years of experience leading international brands for advertising agencies and 10 years as Executive Director of an international art nonprofit in the U.S.

Her passion for making the world a better place through artistic expression drives her to launch programs such as Portrait Pals that you will learn about in part one and part two of this conversation. Tonya, I remember sitting at a table at the Rutabaga Retreat [00:02:00] and it was - you were walking into the lodge and I just, your presence is so calming and you looked directly at me and your blue eyes pierced my heart and you said, “Hi, I'm Tonya!” 

And I think we were sitting working on our name tags and such. I had no idea what you do for your work or living. It was just an immediate connection. Then I had the privilege of sitting and participating in Portrait Pals, a kind of adult version, just a, a, a drawing expression of someone else. And I loved it so much. When I heard about your mission and your vision and all the good you're doing, I asked you to be on the podcast. So welcome, welcome, welcome. 

Tonya: Oh, thank you. What a kind introduction. 

Olivia: Yeah…

Tonya: Thank you. I'm honored to be here and I, I love all that you do too. So. It was easy for us to meet and align, I'm sure.

Olivia: Yeah, [00:03:00] absolutely. I start every episode by asking guests, uh, for a researcher or a piece of research that aligns with their work. Would you share with us? 

Tonya: Yeah. Um, Harvard Project Zero is one that I, I return to again and again and again because it really, um, shows quantitatively, which is hard to do in the arts and education, but it, it shows quantitatively that children who have access to the arts throughout their education perform better, especially in writing. Um, and also I have, I call her a comrade, Theresa Booth Brown, who formerly was head of education at Aspen Art Museum. And she and I bounce ideas off each other. But it's, it's stemmed in research that proves that children who have access to arts education perform better academically. It's part of academics. 

Olivia: Yeah. Beautiful. I think so much of what [00:04:00] makes us who we are, it really involves how we were raised and then we choose, do we want to follow in the path of the caregivers that we grew up with? Uh, what messages do we take from them and carry into our lives? And some people say, I wanna go very in, in a very different route.

Your dad grew up in a house with three rooms, no electricity, no plumbing, and I think there were a family of, he's a family of six. Your mom was abandoned by both of her parents, and yet both of them raised you with looking at hardship, but turning that into kindness. And when I learned that about you, it was so fascinating and to think of now you're working with The Kindness Art Education, and spreading kindness. How did their perspective change your perspective and help you with the path moving forward? 

Tonya: Yeah, I love that question because you're right, we all [00:05:00] arrive in these family systems and they affect us, right? And for me and my family system, it's always been about connection, actively creating connections with people and being curious about their story no matter who they are and where they're from. My parents are definitely my foundation and my three children are my inspiration and I, I do mean that literally my three children are my inspiration. But I think something really arrived with me when I became a mom and I realized that my children's future is only secure when every child's future is secure. And that's just driven me the whole time. 

Olivia: That is a beautiful, beautiful outlook. And you attended the University of Kansas for journalism and then eventually decided you wanted to go to London for a year, but that one year became 20 years, if I'm not mistaken. Uh, and that leads me to think a lot about [00:06:00] global immersion. So what did that experience overseas teach you about art, about connection, and about community? 

Tonya: Oh yeah. I mean, perspective is everything, right? You change perspective and you change your life. Um, being in London as a 20 something, no cell phone, no internet. And although we spoke the same language, there were so many cultural norms in social systems that I didn't understand. It still felt like I was an outsider. Uh. But yet, that's when I was able to access the art collections of London. These incredible collections are open and free, so I might be having a bad day or feeling homesick, and 20 something year old Tonya goes to The National Gallery and 30 minutes walking through there I felt not alone. 

And then I got to [00:07:00] have three children in England experiencing perspective of a child's eyes starting life in a different system. And we could go to the galleries all the time. They were free. And so I would take them all the time and we could go and it wasn't this pressured situation, it just was for us, and that was an enormous change for all of us, I think for my children and me. And then I came back to the US and my perspective changed again. I was supposedly a native of this country and bringing my children back into this country, I felt a lot of similarities. That was so funny putting my daughter into kindergarten and they were playing games that I'd played as a kindergartner. And so in one sense I felt at home again. 

Um, but then it started to. I'd noticed things such as in, in London, at least, where my children went to school, art, um, even architectural styles - design, they're part of the [00:08:00] core curriculum. They're not called specials. And it made me feel really inspired to invigorate the American public school system. I thought every child should be learning about these things. Why is it special? And then I also noticed being a volunteer and working in schools that not all schools are are the same. Some schools have arts and these are public schools and some have bars on the window and no art. And I thought if all these children are actually my children too, that's not right.

Olivia: Yeah. Yeah. I think too about, um, when you chose to establish your business in general, and most people were running fast from establishing businesses at the beginning of the pandemic, and you ran directly toward it and you, you just went head and shoulders into this. So, you know, thinking of what, what drove you to do that at that [00:09:00] time?

Tonya: Yeah. Um, before the pandemic, I had the privilege of working alongside amazing artists. Anna Maria Hernando, Senga Nengudi, Theresa Booth Brown, Monique Crine, Faith Ringgold. Um, and I watched working alongside them, how they saw themselves and their place in the world and how they created. And the pandemic stopped everything right, and it gave me a moment to write, to create, and I created a curriculum called How to Be an Artist inspired directly from these artists I'd seen and worked alongside. 

And it wasn't how to be an artist to train children or anyone to be an artist and find galleries and sell their work. It was how to be an artist, how to adopt that persona and change your perspective and how you might see yourself and in the world. And that curriculum I created during [00:10:00] the Pandemic, and I still use it today, there are four rules to being an artist. Inspired by these incredible artists. I know one is everything you create is right because you are right. That's just how it is. Um, number two, your voice and your needs are important.

Number three, you know the power of listening because artists are incredible listeners. I remember this with Faith Ringgold. She would sit quietly in groups and she's the star and she's absorbing everything. She's watching everything. Artists listen, not just with their ears, but with their eyes, with their hearts, with their bodies. Um, and I love to ask the children actually, when, when I'm talking about this rule, who do you listen to first? 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Tonya: And they raise their hands. And as you might expect, they'll say, my teacher, my parents, you and I say, no, you listen to yourself first, always. I love empowering children is at the core of [00:11:00] everything I do. But that's one of those moments. And then the last thing, uh, rule, the fourth rule is as an artist you see obstacles as opportunities to create. I'm careful to say that most obstacles are not welcome and some are even heartbreaking. And still, as an artist, you are compelled to create. 

And so that's what happened when the pandemic happened. I was writing this. I became, I guess, a version of all these great artists in the curriculum, and I thought, this is an opportunity to create, we can recreate the school system, we can invigorate the American public school system. And so I launched, um, I launched the first Portrait Pearls program. 

But I really saw that the pandemic was shutting people down. Their perspectives were becoming so small and that really concerned me. Yeah. And so I especially was concerned for children and senior citizens. [00:12:00] So my first Portrait Pal program was connecting children in an elementary school with elders in a senior living center. And that's when I really saw, I'd always wanted to do this portrait pals idea, but the pandemic and how to be an artist just made it happen. You know, when you might not. Find time for your, your dreams. It gave me that moment where I had no choice. It felt like.

Olivia: I also, I remember a story you told about you sharing with your daughter that you were really excited and you wanted to do this, and she was like, mom, that is a terrible idea. And yet at the same time you showed her that it is, it was a dream of yours and you followed through and the ripple effects of Portrait Pals and all that you've created, your impact, you, you gave me the gift of the retreat and really being able to lean into art [00:13:00] myself as an adult and then bring that back.

And so, I think it's fascinating from the perspective of a mom or a parent as well, when your kids are watching you and there are so many obstacles we face as parents, and yet you continued to push forward. That was, uh, you, you dropped that little nugget when you were sharing, but I thought, oh, how proud your kids must be of you to watch the way that you are really helping others thrive. It's way beyond going beyond obstacles, but it's thriving. I see it as.

Tonya: I agree with you. I do think that many of our systems are set up to help people survive, and for me, that's not good enough for any child. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Tonya: Every child deserves to thrive and we need to empower them to thrive. And I think back again this perspective, but looking back at how [00:14:00] my dad in 1940 something, early 1940s was a five-year-old and he's in a field on his own driving a team of horses. And now we look at what five-year-olds are doing and I, I think we, part of this thrival mode, empowering mode is saying, this is really hard. And you can do it. 

Olivia: Yes, 

Tonya: I know you can. 

Olivia: Yes. 

Tonya: And giving children the best supplies, giving children the love and support, but also a lot of challenge. A lot of challenge. And it's okay for them to, to not feel like they can do it at first. I, I want that, I want them to see that they can go way beyond what they think they, they're capable of.

Olivia: I had an experience yesterday. I was thinking about you the whole time it was happening. I was in a high school. And there is an AP class that's being offered this year for the first time, and it is a heavy lift. It is very research-based, uh, the articles or stimulus packet that the [00:15:00] children are reading or it's dense.

Uh, the content is kind of, it makes your brain hurt and yet, I had the privilege of being a coach in the room and taking notes. I started to track what students were saying and then what that was telling us about the moves they were making as learners based on what they were saying. The level of language, the way that these 10th graders were speaking about the research they were reading and the perspective of the world around them. I was blown away. 

If you ask these students, if they like the course, I would bet probably about half would say it's not their favorite course. It's really hard. By the end of the year though, I would guarantee that 90% of these students will say, wow, I, I made it. I, I got through this class. And [00:16:00] no matter what they choose to do in their life… 

Tonya: Yeah.

Olivia: When they're reading research, they're gaining lifelong skills. So when I hear you say it is about challenge too, that is where I see kids the most engaged, not frustrational challenge, but that perfect tipping point of frustrational, and I can do it, frustrational and I can do it. And that's how we grow. That's how we grow. 

Tonya: Yeah. 

Olivia: So just interesting. 

Tonya: I agree completely and. No, I've experienced this so many times in the classroom because as you know, I don't give, I give children and adults primary colors to make skin tone and they have to make their person’s, their pal’s, unique skin tone using blue, yellow, red, and white. And so many times in classes, children will raise their hand, please, Ms. Tonya, can I have? I said, no, you can do this. We got this. And what I noticed when we were making the film, you can see on our website [00:17:00] there are children who were interviewed about the process. Um, and most say the hardest part was making the skin tone, and the proudest part is making the skin tone 

Olivia: Beautiful. We're gonna wrap part one. Part two we're getting in depth with the process of Portrait Pals. We're also gonna talk about how Portrait Pals is a beautiful way to close the gap when it comes to absenteeism. Kids wanna come to school when Portrait Pals is happening, and that's really exciting. But I wanna end part one with a lightning round, and I have some questions for you. So we're gonna jump in. Here we go. Um, question one, paintbrush or pencil? 

Tonya: Paintbrush - easy. 

Olivia: Yeah. If you were going to have dinner with an artist alive or dead, um, who would it be and why? 

Tonya: Well, that's an impossible question, you know that, but I will choose Frida Kahlo partly because, 'cause she's a great artist and I love her [00:18:00] portraiture and also, and boy, talk about obstacles and all that kind of thing. I would love to have dinner with her and I would invite, as long as you're okay with this. 

Olivia: Yes. 

Tonya: My goddaughter, Molly Greaves in London, who is an artist and a podcaster and has this incredible program and she adores Frida Kahlo. So I'd hope it could be the three of us. 

Olivia: You're good to go with that. Um, I want you to finish this statement. Uh, a child who learns to paint, learns to… 

Tonya: Uh, create a beautiful life from nothing. 

Olivia: Where do you get your ideas for the projects or programs you want to create? 

Tonya: That is such a good question. I don't really know if I'm honest. I just am a dreamer. I've always been a dreamer. In fact, I was not successful academically in school at all. I was the dreamy child in class, so I'm probably still that daydreamer. So I can be asleep and literally dream things [00:19:00] or walking. I do a lot of, I like to move a lot, so, um, I don't really know, honestly. It just comes to me. 

Olivia: I love that. I love that you’re

Tonya: Maybe because I'm opened, I don't know. 

Olivia: Yeah. I love it. Uh, what do you wish people knew more about? Children in underserved communities? 

Tonya: That Portrait Pals expands what is possible by giving children compassion and perspective. 

Olivia: We're gonna wrap part one there and part two. I cannot wait for people to learn about Portrait Pals as a process. This was so inspiring to me. So thank you, Tonya, for taking the time to chat. 

Tonya: Thank you. 

Olivia: Yeah.

Tonya: Thank you. 

Olivia: That is a wrap on part one with the remarkable Tonya Quinn. Four rules for being an artist, A childhood shaped by resilience. And a dream that a teenager once called, a terrible idea that is now changing lives across the country and around the world.[00:20:00] 

In part two, Tonya takes us all the way through the Portrait Pals process from the professional photographer who comes to school, to the exhibition where children see the portraits that their pals painted of them. If this conversation moved you the same way it moved me. Don't keep it to yourself. Share this episode with a teacher, a principal, a parent. Anyone who believes every child deserves to thrive, not just survive. Find Tonya at thekindnessarteducation.org and we will see you for part two on Friday.