The third floor of the Morton J. Holbrook Judicial Center is currently covered with sheets of plastic and the look and smell of plywood. Thursday morning, several families from the court system gathered together to add whimsical drawings and pops of color to bland white ceiling tiles.
“Most family courts have wooden panels and a bunch of men on the walls — judges,” said Country Heights Elementary School art teacher and Family Court art coordinator, Barbara Poynter. “This is family court, so our goal is to give it levity, to give it brightness.”
Poynter said, while CASA and Family Court are advocates for the children, it is important to ensure that business is conducted in a professional space.
“It still has to maintain an air of importance — because it is,” Poynter said.
As progress continues to be made in order to convert the old third-floor library into a new courtroom for Family Court, the goal is to add life to the space by displaying large frames that offer the opportunity to change out artwork.
A member of Family Court recently served as a judge for the Daviess County Public Schools
art showcase, selecting pieces from primary, intermediate, middle school and high school.
The artists for the selected pieces were also invited to complete a ceiling tile along with their families.
“We invited families who are attached to Family Court to come in,” Poynter said, adding that her goal over the next several years is to eventually transition all of the tiles in the hallway, classroom and courtroom into painted tiles.
Children drew everything from unicorns and favorite television characters to Snoopy sitting atop his red dog house, as their family members stood nearby to offer guidance.
“We want to recognize children artists who are part of our community and we want to recognize children artists who are part of our court system,” Poynter said. “All of our children are artists, they just have different levels of talent.”
