Hope is such a powerful word and amazing thing to grasp. We have been dealing with this theme lately with the ongoing battle with cancer that our son Caden is fighting. Shannon produced a painting called Harvest of Hope based on events surround his stem cell harvest. She is also working on a series of finding Hope in Hopeless Places that is ongoing. Darin is working on a sculpture about the events surrounding his illness and the hope that we have. There is an event that some balm friends are putting on coming up in October that relates to Art and Hope, that will benifit an AIDS charity and we would encourage you to be involved if there is any way that you are able. Hope Lawrence describes itself as:
“Hope Lawrence exists to give hope to those in need by connecting the arts community of Lawrence, KS to the plight of those ravished by the AIDS epidemic as well as other social concerns. It is our belief that the arts can play an important role in bringing attention to problems that have been overlooked for far to long. Everyone has something unique they can offer, and as artists we can lend our voice and talents in order to bring some relief to those who are suffering.
Our first Hope Lawrence event will take place on October 6th and 13th from 3:30-5:30pm in the basement of the Lawrence Community Center. For two hours on these two Saturdays we will come together to paint, sculpt, and draw around the theme of Hope. This will be a communinal creative experience where each person will work on their own piece but in a collective setting where we can get to know one another and see each others works in progress. In addition to our individual pieces we will also have the opportunity to work on a collective mural. The event will culminate on October 20 when we will hold an auction/street sale where we will sell the pieces in order to raise money for a charity addressing the issue of AIDS in Africa. We will announce which charity here at this blog in the coming weeks.” See Original Post
Without hope it is impossible to really live life. So for this end we would say give hope to those who do not have it, so that they to can live a full life. Do whatever part you can to make someone’s life a little better.
Even though we have physically not been able to have a gathering for balm recently, we want to encourage you to keep creating. We want to thank those in the art community that have reached out and encouraged us in many ways. We would love to see what you are working on. Send us your updates of what is going on in your life. If you have an upcoming show, a spoken word reading, a short film, a new design, a painting, a print, a new musical piece, a sculpture, a weaving, a thought, new writings, or anything else you would deem creative, let us know about it. Keep creating…hope.
b.a.l.m 