Community Service

Art is a multifaceted, powerful, and influential form of human society. It doesn’t always have to be hung up on a wall somewhere in a famous museum to be considered beautiful. Beauty is subject to the eye of the beholder. However, whether art is seen by working people passing in the streets, homeless eyes peering from beneath a worn-out hat, or curious faces from chubby cheeks of children, it can always make an impact. The beauty and impact of art are intertwined and bound together, yet they are not the same. The Community Service page seeks to provoke contemplation about how art can impact community. Art can be used to cheer up a white-walled room in a hospital or to bring peace to wrinkled hands hardened by age. Below are some ideas to use your way of seeing the world to expand the horizons of someone else’s universe.

Sketch Book Posters

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Making art has many scientifically proven positive effects on the brain including increasing hope, boosting self-worth, and decreasing depression and anxiety. Creating art can brighten up many people’s days and what better way to include your community in making art than creating a sketch book page for your community to color in? You can create sketch book designs and draw them onto a big poster to be hung up on the walls of nursing homes, hospitals, and many more community places. Below are some before and after photos of my sketches that have been colored in by seniors at a local assisted living space:

Home Decor Paintings

Many nonprofit organizations that help the community are always looking for good wall art. Saranam, for example, is a two year housing organization that provides an apartment to a homeless family filled with all the essential home goods. And nothing could be better to decorate the walls than some homemade decor paintings. Art can be impactful if you take the time to design, paint, and frame some nice homely paintings for your local nonprofit housing organizations. It also does not have to be limited to paintings, art pieces such as sculptures, ceramic bowls, and many others would be amazing homely objects as well. These pieces do not have to take up hours of your time, below is a 30 minute decor painting of a cactus that I made for an apartment I decorated this year for Saranam. Just a little time to pour some love into a painting can really show someone else that you are thinking of and caring for them.

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Chalk the Walk

During quarantine, many schools have elected to go online while faculty and staff still arrive at school to work in their classrooms. Though students cannot be on campus for their classes, they can still arrive for a few minutes to write some inspirational quotes onto the sidewalk for their teachers! Below are a few example pictures of what you can write to brighten up other people’s days! Though this example is with school faculty and staff, you could write motivational quotes with chalk wherever it is allowed such as on your driveway for your neighbors and friends.

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ABQ BioPark Animal Paintings

With zoos closed down across the world, animal caretakers have had to come up with new and creative ideas to make revenue to keep the animals healthy and happy. And the ABQ BioPark managers have generated an amazing idea. Because the BioPark gives many of the resident animals materials to paint in order to help stimulate brain activity, the caretakers thought why not sell these brilliant pieces? Now you can buy your very own painting done by a gorilla or an elephant at the ABQ BioPark Art Gone Wild page! This is an incredible example of where art has gone past a strictly human boundary and crossed over into something all life can enjoy.