Weaving Away....

Warping the rigid heddle loom. 

Christie weaving on the rigid heddle loom.

Here at Hope Center for the Arts we have many talented artists.  Christie and Ana are two of our prolific weavers.  After receiving a grant from The Orange County Community Foundation Hope was able to purchase several rigid heddle looms for the students to weave on.  Many of our students have been able to use the looms to create beautiful scarves for us to sell, both on our Etsy shop and at local art fairs.  Having new tools to expand the students choices and opportunities to create is invaluable to our program. We have even discovered exceptional weaving talent and ability that would never have been realized without them.  Thank you Orange County Community Foundation and Schacht Spindle Company for making the looms possible and providing new opportunities for self expression and accomplishment. 

NEA Collaboration with Hope Center for the Arts Artist Darren Petersen

Darren shows Diana around his cardboard town.

We are pleased to introduce the second pairing of artists that will be working together through our NEA Grant funded mentorship program. Hope artist Darren Petersen will be working with Diana Markessinis. During their initial meeting Darren introduced Diana to his sculptural town and linoleum block print work. They had a chance to discuss their ideas for their collaboration.  We are all looking forward to seeing what these two talented artists produce.  

Diana and Darren discuss their collaboration.

A Featured Artist...

"Lacher Love"

"The Land of Dreams"

"Through the Sand"

Amy is very proud of her artwork.

Amy Lacher is Hope Center's new featured artist.  She loves color and works mostly in colored pencil.  She also colors with her words as can be seen here in one of her recent poems 'Through the Sand'.  Amy's personality is as colorful and cheerful as her art work!
Here is what some of her fellow artists have to say about her art:
"I like the way she drew the water in her piece "The Land of Dreams". Joe V.
"I like her use of pink and purple in 'Lacher Love' ". Michelle E.
"I like the negative space at the edges of 'Lacher Love' ". Carol W.
"I really love how the colors and the palm tree pop out in her piece 'The Land of Dreams' " Justine A.
"It ( Lacher Love) reminds me of a colorful octopus." April R.

Amy's fellow artists are very impressed and proud of Hope Center's current featured artist, Amy Lacher.