Using love and kindness to combat aggression

Nathan Baldwin always thought bullying was something kids did to other kids.

But the more he learned about Nazi Germany's efforts to exterminate people during the Holocaust, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized bullying is something that can affect adults too. Those thoughts helped him create "Don't Surrender," a sculpture the Westwood Middle School eighth-grader plans to enter in the Spokane Community Observance of the Holocaust 2018 Arts and Creative Writing Contest.

The wire sculpture depicts two figures locked in combat with each other. One figure's head is the word "Hate," while the other figure is holding off its attacks with a shield labeled "Love."

"Hate is a real threat," Baldwin said. "You try to use love to your advantage."

Baldwin wants to show people who might be subject to bullying that if they ward off their antagonist's aggression with kindness and compassion, instead of responding with similar force, it might make those doing the bullying realize their efforts have no effect. In that case, they might give up because they would see their victim isn't giving in to their intimidation.

"The reason I chose the title "Don't Surrender" is because people tend to give into harassment when it gets too hard," he said in his artist statement for the contest. "I made this sculpture to keep people going and tell them to not give up."

Baldwin said he draws on his own experience being bullied over several years. The middle school student, whose family has moved around quite a bit, said he wanted to surrender, to give in to the intimidation.

"I kept remembering that if I give up, it will keep happening," he said.

Baldwin said he chose to do a sculpture because he's not very good at drawing, but also because it was the art media he and his fellow students are studying in Westwood art teacher Katherine Potter's class. Potter said they have been studying the wire art of Alexander Calder, an American sculptor known as the originator of the mobile, a type of moving sculpture made with delicately balanced or suspended shapes that move in response to air currents or touch.

Potter said the students are working on creating figures showing movement, line and form and that Baldwin "did a wonderful job of connecting with the media." She also said Baldwin demonstrated an understanding of what he and other students were learning in class about the Holocaust, associating the hatred and fear from the past with current world events issues such as immigration.

"I love how Nathan took what goes on in history and connected not just with the Holocaust, but also with today," Potter said.

The Spokane Holocaust observance contest "Hate Speech: A Prelude to Genocide" features original art and writing by middle and high school students in the area. Entries in separate high school and middle school categories will be evaluated and displayed at Gonzaga University's Hemmingson Center from now through March 11.

They will also be on display at Temple Beth Shalom on Spokane's South Hill through March and April, with the top-three winners in either category honored at an official Holocaust observe there on Sunday evening, April 15.

"Showing a person fighting shows this can happen to you, it's real people," Baldwin said of his "Don't Surrender" piece. "It truly does happen to everyone, and then they're not prepared."

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].