Kim Lehman straddles so many (admittedly artificial) boundaries, it’s hard to know how to characterize her.
She has a repertoire of fun, educational programs, with some aimed at 2- to 6-year-olds (bees, birds, colors, cowboys, dinosaurs, fairy tales, etc.) and others aimed at 5- to 12-year-olds (stories and songs from around the world, pioneer days, plants and green growing).
For adults in garden clubs, churches, libraries, senior centers and such, Lehman does lively presentations on bees, as well as ones on folksy topics, such as the Shakers and traditional uses of plants and flowers. She frequently hearkens back to her upbringing in a Mennonite community in Pennsylvania, as in this workshop: “The Unbroken Circle: Learn How to Collect, Preserve and Share Family Stories.”
Lehman creates candles, paper, mosaics, jewelry, wood carvings, and watercolors, some of which she sells at craft fairs. She also tends to 80,000 honey bees, which inspire many of her presentations.
Lehman’s journey to the arts was sparked by the sophomore year she spent in Washington D.C. under what was then called WSSY. EMU did not then permit dancing on campus, so Lehman seized being off-campus as an opportunity to take dance classes, which she loved. On campus, Lehman did choral singing, theater, and discovered new wave, post-punk music (from another student) and African American traditional sounds and cadences (from an EMU lecture).
“Looking back [on her years at EMU in the late 1970s and early 1980s], I think there was an unspoken idea that the arts are frivolous,” she told Crossroads. “Don’t take me wrong. I do love the incredible work ethics I learned from my background. Going to EMU and being around truly kind, productive, conscientious, salt-of-the-earth people was definitely a positive influence.”
But…”my perspective on the arts has changed considerably. It does not just need to be something I do when I retire. There is value in my work, and I can be compensated for creativity and expression.” Lehman explains that storytelling, music and dance feed the spirit, create sacred spaces, and enable “learning, healing and personal understanding.” Anybody can and should use the arts to express himself or herself, she says. She no longer sees even the limits contained in these sentences that she used to utter: “If you can talk, you can sing. If you can walk, you can dance.”
“I worked with a deaf choir, and I discovered that if you can’t talk you can still sing. I worked at a nursing center, and I learned that if you are in a wheelchair, you can still dance.”
For more on Kim Lehman, visit www.Beeladyprograms.com and www.Kimlehman.com