China Service Project
While living in the Middle East in Qatar, I had many opportunities for travel to foreign schools in need of assistance. One service trip, in particular, touched my heart and transformed my thinking, as well as my art in surprising ways.
My classmates and I traveled to Sichuan, China to aid in the restoration of a school devastated by a massive earthquake. The school had been completely destroyed and was being rebuilt when our group arrived. Prior to leaving Qatar, I was designated “lead artist” and was in charge of painting a 52-meter mural. I faced many pitfalls including electrical brownouts and design changes which resulted in my free hand painting the entire mural. When I first started painting, I was focused on mural design and technical aspects with only the end result in mind. Along the way, I began to realize the true power of art and how it can be used to communicate across different cultures. This realization altered my mindset, bringing a new level of maturity and introspectiveness on my part.
As I began work on the mural, a little Chinese boy came daily to watch me paint. He appeared during every break and even after the school day had finished. I did not know if the little boy had lost his family in the tragedy, but chances were high he had.
The emotions regarding this little boy were a driving force for developing my art beyond my initial design. In a heartbeat, I decided to improvise and paint my own representation of the little boy on the wall. I would glance over at him and smile; he would smile back while continuing to watch. I painted his softly combed hair and the scarf around his neck while pointing out each. Then, I began painting his jacket and pants, again pointing. Despite cultural and language constraints, he seemed to understand what I was trying to communicate. I had never seen so much joy coming through a simple smile. His expression made me realize how meaningful my painting was to him. The only word he said that I could understand was “Xiexie,” meaning thank you. Although we knew nothing about each other, we had a wonderful conversation, yet no words were exchanged.
When the mural and school renovations were complete, our service team and all the small children joined together in celebration. We assembled in a large field of flowers behind the school where the children filled the sky with colorful kites. Many of the children started picking flowers from the field and giving them to our team. It seemed our efforts had made an impact as my arms, in particular, quickly filled with flowers. My bundle became so large my hands could not contain them. It was amazing the profound impact my art made in those few days. What used to be a hobby, an escape, and a means of expression was instead transformed into a vehicle for bridging cultural and language differences and expressing compassion: a life skill I will forever embrace and reflect in my art.
Bulgaria Service Project
This service project was done through the Young Life Christian organization. Young Life groups from all over the world met in a site in Bulgaria and we all spread out between 6 different schools that needed our help. We helped make the school safer by digging up sharp metals that were under the ground, we built a large playground, we re-painted walls and playground toys, played with the kids, and lastly, we painted a mural across the largest wall of the school. The school had their own ideas of what they wanted the mural to depict. In the end, they wanted to connect the city of Bulgaria to the universe. I designed the mural and simplified it so that we could finish it in a week. The end result was bright and vibrant anc very cheerful!
Vine Mural
One summer a new bar in the historical district of Blue Ridge, Georgia was being built and I volunteered to paint a mural in the main room. I helped renovate the small bar and painted the vine above the door in oil paint. The bar opened soon after the painting was finished and to this day after many owners, the painting is still there.