On Wednesday, May 20, 2015, sixth and seventh grade students at Westside Neighborhood School had the opportunity to participate in Portraits of Hope’s latest public art project, The Spheres at MacArthur Park. Portraits of Hope is a nonprofit organization that “conceives and develops one-of-a-kind motivational art projects that merge the production of dynamic public art works with creative therapy for hospitalized children and civic education for students of all ages.” Portraits of Hope works with youth and adults, many of whom are seriously ill or physically disabled, to create each public art piece. To date, Portraits of Hope has worked with tens of thousands youth and adults, including over 800 hospitals, schools, and social service agencies, to create these national large-scale civic art pieces. Previous projects include transforming New York’s taxi fleet, emergency vehicles in Aspen, CO, lifeguard towers in Santa Monica, CA, blimps, NASCAR racecars, and many more!
Portraits of Hope’s most recent public art project, The Spheres at MacArthur Park is set to debut in mid August 2015. The project aims to help revitalize downtown LA’s MacArthur Park and the surrounding community by filling the lake with one-of-a-kind floating artwork in the form of giant, hand-painted, inflatable spheres. The spheres, which range from 4ft to 6ft in diameter, will feature either six or sixteen petal flowers or aquatic designs, with every sphere painted in bright and vibrant colors. The installation will last for four weeks, with the 7,000 spheres in the exhibition then being donated to social service programs and nonprofits.
WNS sixth and seventh grade middle school students had the special opportunity to participate first hand in the painting of these inspiring spheres. In addition to the actual painting, an education component is involved in each school session that Portraits of Hope runs. Before even lifting their brushes, the students are introduced to the work of Portraits of Hope through a video presentation. Next, they spend time discussing social issues and brainstorming things in our world that they hope to change or bring awareness to.
After the education portion of the session, the students break into teams to help paint the spheres. Each group decides on their preferred color palate and paints one half of the sphere at a time. WNS students were also able to help prep the 6ft spheres that will be used for the students at the Braille Institute. Using a special acrylic medium containing ground pumice stone, students painted the outline of the flowers on the spheres. Once the mixture dries, students at the Braille Institute are able to feel the outline of the flowers and know where to paint inside the lines. Middle school students from WNS traveled to the Braille Institute on June 8 to assist in the painting of the spheres. WNS students helped guide the students from the Braille Institute and they worked hand in hand together to complete the large specially prepared spheres.
“This has been an such an important and inspiring opportunity for our middle school students. Working with Portraits of Hope and knowing that WNS kids are making an impact in our city and supporting the involvement of other children is something that we, as a school, are truly grateful for. I can’t wait for our community to witness the installation in August and take pride in knowing that our work is helping to revitalize our city,” said Head of School, Brad Zacuto.
If you are interested in learning more about WNS or Portraits of Hope, please visit www.wnsk8.com or www.portraitsofhope.org for more information.
