By Barbara Augsdorfer, editor for the Effingham Herald

Isaiah Scott and his mom Sonja of Effingham County are teaming up together to teach a master class on Sunday, April 6.

The master class, “Building from the Ground Up” is part of a four-hour symposium at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina. The symposium runs from 1-5 p.m. and the Scott’s masterclass is 2-2:45 p.m. The symposium is billed as “for visual artists dedicated to brand development and career growth.”

Cost for the entire symposium is $25. Click on the Gibbes Museum of Art link for information and tickets.

It’s a return trip for Isaiah, who was a visiting artist

https://www.effinghamherald.net/local/effingham-gullah-geechee-artist-host-art-display-workshop/

The Scott’s brief 45-minute master class, Sonja admits, is just going to be the “meat” as in “meat and potatoes” – just a quick tutorial of her role as a parent and mentor guiding Isaiah to discover and hone his passion for art and ornithology.

“The meat of it is that we're going to talk about from the ground up and as a parent, mentor, educator, kind of role, that's the role that I serve,” Sonja explained. How would you help your child first identify their talents and gifts, and how would you bring it forward to the marketplace?”

In Isaiah’s case, he drew a duck in a middle school ag class – it was "like perfect” Sonja recalls. She asked Isaiah, “Can you draw like that all the time?” and he said, “Sure.”

In addition to recognizing talent and supplying the tools, Sonja added the next step was to connect Isaiah with people who can use his talent – that’s how Isaiah was contacted by The Audubon Society.

From there, Isaiah has traveled and worked internationally with companies such as Lindblad Expeditions in the Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu, Peru, and Ecuador.

Sonja added that Isaiah could get so wrapped up in studying birds and drawing them, nothing else seemed to matter.

“When there’s ‘nothing to do,’ Isaiah says, ‘I want to look outside. I want to draw a bird with a toothpick’. And he’ll work on it for two days until it’s perfect,” Sonja said. And her motherly instinct would ask, “Are you hungry? Are you thirsty?”

For the master class on April 6, Sonja is going back to the “meat” of how she mentored Isaiah for the past 11 years – from when she first saw his gift and how she encouraged him with tools, supplies, and connecting him with people.

“For my part, is just telling the story, just to go back and let's lay this outline over the lives of other young people, neighbors and friends, and students that you teach,” Sonja explained. “Can you see something there? Then start feeding that, start bringing the supplies, and taking them places to be able to see themselves.”

Isaiah is finishing up his senior year at Cornell University and will graduate in May.

After graduation Isaiah will be traveling the Gullah Geechee Corridor from Wilmington, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida, working on several products – everything from a book to YouTube videos, and Instragram posts (@ikesbirdinghikes). The Scotts are currently looking for sponsors to help him with the project. Sonja added he has some national sponsors and the University of South Carolina is “very interested” in helping him publish the book.