Painting in the park for a cause
I am originally from
Honduras, a small and very tropical country in the middle of Central America. When
I was in High School, every Saturday afternoon I used to meet in a public hall
with other artists. We would paint, inspire and critique each other so that we
could grow our talents. We would bring
our canvases, paint and brushes to the gatherings and paint all day. We were a
group of all ages that shared the same passion; to create art. (Even my dentist
attended, she was a pretty good artist.)
Raise funds by creating art awareness
Honduras is a third
world country. Therefore, it is in great need of the visual arts. In 2000, we only had one public school of fine
arts and it was located inside the installations of a museum. The school was in
need of its own building and we needed to do something about it. Unfortunately, running a school art fundraiser is not an option. That’s when we
realized that we had to raise awareness and raise funds for the arts in
Honduras.
Show off your art skills
Our group was led by a
very well-known newspaper cartoonist, Dario
Banegas. After much thought and
collaboration, we decided the best way to raise awareness for our cause was to
paint in the central park where the public could see us create art. The day of
the show we were surprised to see that many well know Honduran painters had
joined the cause; we were even joined by the Honduran President at that time!
Educate to create awareness
We painted in the
central park of San Pedro Sula the whole afternoon and many people came up to
us very interested in viewing the works of art that we were creating. We discussed
the arts and educated people who were completely unaware.
My artwork
As for me, I painted a
small cottage in a country setting with big trees and a cloudy blue sky. I
paint with a spatula because I love the 3-D effect of the paint on my canvas.
The night was a complete success and it was a blast!
You too can make a difference
I wanted to share this
experience with you because even though art is very popular in the United
States, in my opinion, it is not as appreciated in other parts of the world. We are the ones who can make a difference and
spread awareness of the arts! Whether
its paint, pottery, sculpture…whatever your passion may be, the time has come
to make a difference!
Blog by:
Stephanie Coplan
Account Manager at Square 1 Art
View her artist portfolio
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