When Matthew Rice got into trouble at school, he would draw. Cartoon characters, car designs, whatever came to mind. His teachers, sensing an interest Rice didn’t show in other subjects, would encourage him by grading his drawings but, preoccupied by football and the streets of Baltimore, Rice never put much thought into what he would do with his creative talents.
“I did not find out I could do all that I do in art until I went to Penn State,” he said. “It was just opportunity. A lot of times you don’t know what you’re capable of, what your likes or dislikes are until you get the opportunity.”
Now a successful artist who will showcase his skills with the brush this weekend in State College, the former Nittany Lion defensive end is working to help provide youngsters from his hometown and elsewhere with opportunities to explore their own creative talents.
A year ago, Rice established the Blu Art Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with schools to set up after-school programs, summer camps or guest speakers to give kids a variety of exposure to art, math, science and reading programs that go beyond the regular curriculum.
“The gist of it is to create different
avenues for the youth to be able to pursue whatever it is they may want to do,” Rice said.
Rice, who has poured much of his own financial
resources into the foundation, is also working to link up with a pair of former Nittany Lions — Aaron May-bin and Bryan Scott — who have established similar organizations.
The idea for Blu Art — the name is a homage to Rice’s nickname and Mateo Blu, the name of his art company — was born during his freshman year at Penn State. He wanted to open as many eyes as he could the same way his were opened in college.
“I can thoroughly remember just going through the school system,” he said. “All of the different things that I’ve learned, the opportunities of college, opportunities of a really good high school and the overall support you can get from traveling and being able to know things outside of your own neighborhood, your own block, to take advantage of anything and everything that may come in life.”
Blu Art’s first project was helping the students at Westport Academy — one of the most underfunded schools in South Baltimore — visualize what they wanted to do and giving them examples of people — like a certain former Penn State football star — who made the transformation. Next up was a visit to State College Area High School, where BAF helped students — particularly minorities, who had a comparatively low graduation rate — create e-portfolios and
showed them how to draft college application letters.
“We structure our program to each school,” Rice said. “We’re very big on quality, not quantity.”
The long-term goal, Rice said, is to have the foundation become a part of Maryland’s statewide curriculum within the next three years. There are unspoken priorities, however, at every stop. One is finding kids who are creative but are having trouble finding ways to express it — kids not unlike Rice once was — and discovering what lights them up.
“Our society is more geared to left-brained thinkers,” Rice said. “A lot of the kids that are more right-brained thinkers and creative typically become the quote on quote bad kids. They need a different type of education and support.”
Rice, whose personal art gallery continues to grow, will show off his most recent painting at the Penn State All-Sports Museum at noon Saturday. Originals and prints of his work will be available for sale. But art is only his second passion. The first is doing what he can to help future generations find their own passions.
“For some reason, people don’t see people, as a whole, being a part of them,” Rice said. “We are all one, and if we don’t help these kids and put the time and energy into the kids of today, we’re setting ourselves up for disaster.”
Jeff Rice covers Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4609 or jrice@centredaily.com.
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