Artist of the Month for February is Jenny Doyle!

Jenny is honored for her artwork.

Jenny's collage and watercolor.

Three colored pencil drawings by Jenny D.

Jenny's artistic interpretation of a shamrock and a rabbit.

A sunset with birds in watercolor by Jenny D.

Each month a Hope University student is honored for their artistic talents.  They receive a certificate and accolades from their fellow students.  Also, their work is displayed at the back of the gathering hall for all to admire.  This month, February, we honor student Jennifer Doyle for her artistic contributions to Hope U. 
What Jenny has to say about her art: 
"I like my artwork, I think I do a good job at art."
"I like to draw with colored pencils, it is good for my coordination to stay on the paper".
On water colors she says, "I like working with watercolors too, it is easier to move my brush back and forth on the paper with watercolors."
On collage, "I like to paste down the pieces so they won't stick up. I thought a lot about the colors, I asked myself, 'what colors should I use' before I chose them."
We are all enjoying Jennifer's work, she is so enthusiastic about her artwork and that inspires us all.
Great job Jenny!

Artists Ready Work for the Annual Fundraiser

The artist, Tom, concentrates on his work.

Excellent brush strokes.

A proud artist.

The artist, Oscar, painting with intention.

What a fantastic painting.

Diane is adding pattern.

Once a year Hope University hosts a gala fundraiser to raise money for the program.  Our hopes are to be able to purchase a building to call our own.  We are looking for a facility to hold all of the wonderful things and people here at Hope U.  Ideally an old school or church building would fit our bill.  Classrooms, outdoor areas, lunch areas, office space, and a large hall with a stage would be our dream.  This years gala is entitled 'Life is a Masquerade', (masks optional) will be held on Saturday, March 10th.  The gala opens at 5:30 with a social hour and silent auction, to be followed by dinner, a live auction and live music provided by Hope University's very own band, the Hi-Hopes and dancing if you choose.  The place is the Crowne Plaza Anaheim Resort at 12021 South Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92804, just up the street from Disneyland!

In the photos above you see some of the Hope U artists creating work to be available at the silent auction.  The silent auction always has a large selection of wonderful items such as vacation packages, jewelry, sports tickets and memorabilia as well as a large selection of gift and food baskets. 
If you would like more information or to attend this years gala, please feel free to call us at (714)778-4440 or visit us on the web at www.hopeu.com. 

Valentine's Day at Hope U.

Tom V. as D.J.

Ana P. and Fred M. dance the afternoon away.

Chris J. shows us a Valentine's Day card.

Three buddies having fun at the party.

Sharon M. gets her Valentine's Day cards ready to hand out.

Tina G. and April R. choose their snack.

Jenny D. is happy with her refreshments.

February 14th fell on a Tuesday so the students and staff planned a party to celebrate!  We made chocolate covered pretzels, who doesn't like salty and sweet?  We used red and pink chocolate to melt, then dipped the pretzels in it, yummy.  We also made artwork to decorate the fellowship hall, lots of hearts and happy drawings helped up get in the party mood.  Refreshments were served, punch and the chocolate covered pretzels we made were a wonderful snack.  There was also a DJ, student Tom Veltman spun the cd's that made us all want to boogie the afternoon away.  Students decorated bags to carry home all of their Valentine's Day cards and goodies.  We are sharing some photos with you of the students enjoying their Valentine's Day party.
"My favorite part of the day was the dance."
Ana Pinedo
"I liked singing to the music."
Joe Valliere
"My favorite part of the day was making the chocolate covered pretzel snacks."
April Renick
"Tom played great music, I really liked listening to it."
Lori Slikker
"I got to melt the chocolate in the microwave to cover the pretzels."
Margaret Kelley
As you can see the students had a grand time!

Hoot! A New Product at the Hope Boutique

A shy owlet.

Just a peek.

Pensive gray owlet

Owlet says 'hello'.

You may (or not) be familiar with the Hope University Boutique.  The students at Hope U make a wonderful line of gift items that they sell at the Christmas Show and at other venues.  We have beaded ornaments, 'refrigerator' magnets, felted purses, earrings, felted soaps, knitted wrist warmers, knitted hats, hand sewn felt play food, jewelry created from the students artwork, greeting cards, calendars, mugs and journals just to name some. 
The knitting class recently added a new product....'owlets'!  Each owlet is hand knitted by one of the students in the knitting class and then sent on to the sewing class to have the eyes and beak added, then the ears, seaming and stuffing is completed by a staff member.  Then you have a finished, hand knitted happy little owlet.  We have some great ideas for these little guys, and hope we can keep up with demand!  Also an idea has been 'hatched' to create a stop action film staring our very own little Hope owlets, so we are adding a 'stop action' camera set up to our wish list.  We hope you like our new additions, if you would like to purchase or reserve an owlet or to donate a stop action camera set up please go to our website to contact us.  Hoot-Hoot!

Poets at Hope

Poetry can be a wonderful art form for personal expression.  Here at Hope we have a poetry class where clients of different verbal and cognitive abilities are given the opportunity to express themselves in words, many or few.  Students often find hidden feelings and ideas that they may have never verbalized or even thought of.  It assists them in delving deeper into their own lives and can give them interesting insights into others while exploring the world of words.  Here are a few examples of work that came from the poetry class this last year. 

My Mother's Hands

are soft and pink
touched by rain
like the roses in the garden of Kew.
She used her hands for teaching
they held lots of little hands
Kindergarteners hands.
My little hands.

Cathy Acton


Cathy Acton spoke about her feelings when she wrote this poem:
"I was feeling nostalgic with love for my mom and was remembering her as a teacher.  For years she taught Kindergarten even before I was born.  I thought about her impact on her little students as future adults."



Big purple towel

Laying on the beach
    With a friend
We are there
    To watch the ocean
Listen to the water
    See people walking by.


Kris W.


Kris' memories came up for this poem of a special summer when she went to the beach with a new friend. 
"It was such a beautiful day and the sand was so warm."


In India

The rain, cold rain falls on the
Ground, trees, mountains
Tigers like the rain
They move slowly
Move their feet slowly
Slow brown feet
The way they move, slow
Looking for food
In the jungle.

Amy Lacher

 Amy says: "I have never been to India, I was just thinking about it a lot.  Whenever I think of it, it is beautiful."

In the poetry class the students are exposed to many different styles and authors to assist them in working prompts.  They listen to poetry, discuss poetic works and dialogue with the instructor on imagery and sensory visualizations.  Poetry can be transporting and imaginative, evocative and cathartic.  Our poets hope you enjoyed their work and look forward to more.

Christmas by Candlelight, Act ll

 Opening the second half of the show was the hand bell choir with a slide show of student artwork.

The hand bells.

Alexis getting ready for her keyboard solo.

The Choir.

Karen and Michelle start the 'Baking Cookies' dance.

'Baking Cookies'... the dance.

Ron playing his accordion.

Paul and Cathy sing a duet of 'The Christmas Song' or 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire'.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus!  (Maurica and Ben)

The Grand Finale, 'Joy to the World'.

The audience gives us a standing ovation!

The staff takes a bow.

Here is the second installment of Hope University performing in their annual Christmas Program, titled 'Christmas by Candlelight'.  The students enjoyed dancing, singing and acting as they participated on stage.  Photographed by Eric Stoner.

Christmas by Candlelight, Act I

Ben and Melanie are excited to start the show.

Our Hope Boutique features fine crafted items for sale, all made by the students.

Darren, Carol, Alexis and April open the show with the Chimers group playing 'Silver Bells'.

Dena's lovely voice sings 'Song for a Winter's Night' as Christie dances in the background.

A traditional Korean fan dance is transformed for the season with 'In My Christmas Dreams'.

'Silent Night' featured Ron singing in Inuit, the vocal choir with the sign language class interpreting.

Our trio of Tom, Paul and Howard under the direction of Steve Enzweiler sang 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing'.

Paul rocks the drums on 'Feliz Navidad'.

Fred shows us his joyful accordion with 'Jingle Bells'.

All of the students participate enthusiastically in the first half finale.

Hope University presents it's annual Christmas Show for 2011 titled 'Christmas by Candlelight'.  This program is one of Hope's yearly highlights and this year we were underwritten by several generous donors to be able to use the historic Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton California.  Any and all students who choose to perform are included in the program.  This is a wonderful opportunity for Hope to showcase the students many talents.  We have a hand bell choir, a singing choir, a men's choir group the Hi-Hopes musical group.  There is a drama group, the sign language group and several dancing groups who all were able to have a part in the show.  This is a sampling of the first half of this years program beautifully photographed by Eric Stoner.