Portraits of Hope raises awareness for issues in communities

Junior Cade Boden paints a cat to put on display at a local animal shelter. Portraits of Hope is working to raise awareness at animal shelters in the Los Angeles area by decorating the facilities with art made by the community. Courtesy of Ryan Demerest

By Megan Sullivan

Assistant Circulation Editor

Art has often been considered one of the loudest ways of exposing the problems faced in society, which contributed greatly to the Hippie movement in the 60’s and still continues today. Portraits of Hope is an organization that uses art to raise awareness for issues in communities all throughout the country.

Portraits of Hope was founded in 1995 by Bernie and Ed Massey in hopes of creating motivational art projects that rally the community behind social problems. As they have stated, their projects have aimed to serve as creative therapy and the group has grown and expanded greatly since. Now, Juniors Ryan Demerest and Shelby Seivert work to bring this organization to Mira Costa.

Link: Portraits of Hope raises awareness for problems in communities by producing artwork that highlights those issues.

“We want to help the students of Costa become more aware of all the charities and issues that Portraits of Hope works with and we hope that by bringing this club to school, we can encourage their involvement with some of the different causes and people,” Vice president Seivert said.

Demerest and Seivert brought Portraits of Hope to Mira Costa in hopes of further strengthening their support of all the work P.O.H. does for the community. Seivert first got interested in the organization when she noticed the various artwork around the South Bay. As her interest in the P.O.H. grew, so did her and Demerest’s interest in bringing it to Costa, Sevier said.

“I used to see the artwork everywhere like at the Point, the life guard towers, and even on fire trucks,” Seivert said. “I think it’s a great idea to use art and these colors to promote such great causes and ultimately help out members of the community whether it be those with autism or other adversities.”

Photos: Portraits of Hope hosts sessions for community members to participate in the creation of the art.

Portraits of Hope has made its mark on Los Angeles County with various projects, its most well known being the Summer of Color in 2009. 31 miles of beach were decorated with the brightly painted lifeguard towers, which were painted by youth and adults in hospitals and other forms of care. Since then, P.O.H. has hosted a number of other projects in the South Bay and are now focusing on decorating animal shelters around Los Angeles to promote the importance of rescuing animals.

“I first got interested in this organization because they are currently doing a project to carry out the beautification of animal shelters in L.A, and seeing that I am a huge animal lover it definitely grabbed my attention,” club member Chirawan Murphy said. “I am hoping to make a difference in the community by drawing attention to Portraits of Hope’s many efforts.”

Link: The Pet Rescue Center hosts adoptions for animals found in the L.A. area that do not have homes

Portraits of Hope hosts painting sessions at the Point in El Segundo on Sundays so that members of the community can come together and participate in creating the decorations that go towards their projects. Volunteers range from children to adults and there are large amounts of families that participate together. The Portraits of Hope Club at Mira Costa is focusing to increase the amount of participation of the community in these events by getting their members to participate.

“We want to give everyone a chance to participate in the actual painting of the art so we are planning on bringing some of the students in our club with us when we go to paint,” Seivert said. “We are also planning on hosting a number of fundraisers to get the word out about all the work Portraits of Hope is doing.”

The club is still forming and trying to get organized, but already has around 25 members. They host meetings every few weeks at lunch, but Seivert says they are struggling with getting people to actually come to the events. They are encouraging members to get more involved with the club so they can make a tangible difference in the community.

“Other than needing more participants in the actual painting, the club is moving smoothly and everyone seems to have a great interest in actually making a difference,” member Remy Sloves said. “I am really hopeful that we can come together and raise awareness for the issues that exist in the our school and the South Bay.”