Volunteer Spotlight: Lauren Miller Introduces Kids to Art

While most teenagers spent their summer browsing through the local mall or watching the latest Twilight installment for the 10th time, South Pasadena resident Lauren Miller spent her weekdays volunteering at the

"Lauren is one of those kids, when you meet her, you're really impressed with how unique she is," said Katya Shaposhnik, gallery director at SPACE. "The first thing that impressed me about her when I would see her around—beside the fact that she would walk home from school barefoot—was that she, among all her female peers, didn't walk around with a phone in her hand."

Shaposhnik realized that Lauren, "wasn't your average teen," and would become a valuable addition to the small arts organization's team of volunteers. 

The 14-year-old South Pasadena High School freshman was introduced to the community organization through her mother Marie Miller, an art instructor at the gallery.

"She's always had an eye for the arts," said Miller. "She was very resistant at first and then all of a sudden she couldn't fight it anymore—it was just part of her."

The daughter of two artists, Lauren truly believes in the organization's mission statement: "Art makes you happy. Art has the power to change lives. Art makes a community richer. Art is for everyone."

"One thing that I really like about [SPACE] is that it exposes kids to all different kinds of art." Miller said.  "At school, you don't really get art classes or have more creative stuff to do as often. I think [SPACE] is really cool because you learn to express yourself in different ways."

Miller's favorite part of the summer was a dinosaur-themed week, where young artists were able to create their own crazy creatures.

"The last week was really fun because it had to do with dinosaurs and a lot of kids could imagine whatever they wanted, you could be really creative with that topic," Miller said. "It was really cool to see all the different things the kids would come up with."

Miller spent most of the hot summer days assisting Shaposhnik and the center's director, Hope Perello.

"She's really, really creative herself, so it was a great asset having someone who is both self-motivated and really artistic," Shaposhnik said.

Lauren helped out with the gallery's summer camp for children by organizing and distributing supplies, preparing for camp classes, helping individual children with their projects, and supervising kids on field trips.

While she may have started volunteering to earn hours for high school (South Pasadena High School students must complete 45 hours of volunteer work in order to graduate), Miller ended up learning a valuable lesson in responsibility.

"I was responsible for art supplies and other people's art projects, and made sure that everyone got help when they needed it," Miller said. "When you help people, it makes you feel better and accomplished. It's just really cool, especially helping out with kids and telling them that there is no right and wrong, letting their imagination flow and creative ideas unfold."

She may already have a head start on her volunteer hours, but Miller is already planning to devote more of her time to SPACE and encourages her peers to volunteer.

"Hope and Katya are really open to getting new volunteers," Miller said. "I would recommend this organization to other kids because you're supporting the arts, which is really important."

Marie Miller asserts that her daughter has already found ways to expose her peers to the arts.

"During the eighth grade, Lauren's class went on a trip to Washington D.C. When they went to the National Gallery, Lauren had a list of all the pieces they had to see," said Marie Miller. "I'm very proud of her and I know that whatever she does, it's going to be something creative."