"Hope Heals Art"

Art--good art--has the power to transcend the creator's intentions andto become something altogether personalized to the individual observer.  Yet, art, and creation, for that matter, are always imbued with a certain deep-seated emotional resonance, a memory trace of the artist/creator's inspiration.  That is the power and the importance of art, but that is also the hope of art...that it inspires just what it was created to inspire.

"One's mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun". - C. S. Lewis

For us, the experience of pain and hopelessness has been juxtaposed with beauty and hope time and time again, often through the vehicle of art, and in that experience of beauty invading the mess, there is HOPE. 

"For years I have been telling the story of the Cellist of Sarajevo, and how the image of that man, playing his heart out in a bomb crater, has become a mobilizing metaphor for me as an artist.  I see in him the story of Christ who enters our bomb cratered world to play a song we didn't expect and couldn't have imagined." - Sara Groves 

At first blush, it could seem futile, "why waste beauty on such an unbeautiful place"?  And the answer is simple, because the unbeautiful place is exactly the place that most needs the beauty.  And in the end, the unbeautiful might not just see beauty but actually feel beautiful, not just from without but now from within.

"He loved us, not because we were lovely to him, but to make us lovely. — Timothy Keller.

Hope Heals Art is a multi-faceted project designed to "Hope It Forward".  The premise is simple: we received hope through art and beauty when we needed it most, now we want to inspire hope in others through the same vehicle. 

Here's a rundown on the Hope It Forward "cycle of hope" (2 Corinthians 1) that Hope Heals Art seeks to inspire:

1) An ARTIST creates an original artwork, a visual representation inspired by hope, and donates it and a limited edition set of prints to Hope Heals and maybe, just maybe, in the process, finds some hope too (thus giving and receiving hope) .

2) HOPE HEALS offers these prints for sale to spread this artistic representation of hope, with the proceeds benefiting its ongoing ministry efforts (thus giving and receiving hope) .

3) A SUPPORTER of Hope Heals purchases an art print, both benefiting Hope Heals and bringing a unique moment of hope and beauty into their own home (thus giving and receiving hope).

4) A DIGITAL AUDIENCE sees a glimpse of hope through this specific piece of art and also purchases or shares the project, the story of Hope Heals, and hope in the process (thus giving and receiving hope) .

5) A HOSPITAL receives the donation of this original piece of art and displays it in its halls for patients, families, and staff to see a small representation of beauty and hope in what can often be an ugly and hopeless place (thus giving and receiving hope).