A Texas art teacher’s inspirational project is warming the hearts of her community and the internet after she donned a dress with drawings created by hundreds of her students.
The project went viral after the teacher’s daughter posted it on Twitter, where it quickly garnered over 100,000 likes.
Rebecca Bonner told Good Morning America –“I got fabric markers and sharpies,””I laid out my dress for two weeks and just let them doodle on it.”
Bonner, a teacher at Mcauliffe Elementary School in Highland Village, Texas, said she got the inspiration for the dress from a private Facebook group of fellow elementary school art teachers where they all “share ideas, inspire each other and try to lift each other up.”
She said it was a great way to get her 580 students, who range in age from 3 to 11, “excited about art.”
Bonner said she was shocked when she found out photos of her project went viral, after her daughter, Charlece Lake, posted them.
Lake, described her mom as “really passionate about showing how important teaching is, and the arts are in school.” The art educator said that her catchphrase is “turn your mess up into a dress up.”
She said she just thought it was “the cutest picture” of her mom, and “had no idea it was going to blow up like this.”
Lake said watching her mom spark confidence through art in children is what inspired her to want to become a teacher as well, and she is currently pursuing her teaching degree in college.
Lake added – “I think she just inspires students to be creative and just make their mistakes into something beautiful.”