VENTURA, California – Twelve-year-old Phoebe Hopp’s wide eyes stared hauntingly out at her grandmother from the self-portrait she’d drawn in art class.
Lydia Hopps couldn’t see her granddaughter’s expression. Most of her face was covered by a mask, which she and other students had worn to prevent spread of COVID-19 during the class at Vita Art Center in Ventura.
“It made me think, what is this child thinking? What is she feeling?” Lydia Hopps said. “What have these children been through this past year? It just called me to take action.”
Thus began an ambitious community art project at Vita Arts Center called “Through Our Eyes,” inspired by Lydia Hopps and her granddaughter, and organized by the center’s founding director, Mary Perez. The project involves a series of free art workshops for children ages 8 to 18, led by professional artists. Instructors guide students to create a self-portrait of themselves wearing a face mask. Students are encouraged to get creative with the face mask and use it as a means to communicate their emotions. The idea is to help local children and teens visually express and document their feelings about the pandemic.
“We’re living through an incredible, historic time, and it’s important to give kids a chance to express themselves and to document this moment,” said Perez. “Can you imagine how much their world was turned upside down by the pandemic? Children thrive on the consistency of family, friends and school, and that was all shaken up.”
Workshops at Vita Arts Center are already underway, and the center plans to hold several more through the end of the year. An on-site and online exhibit of 100 self-portraits is planned for June. The center will also create a printed catalog of the portraits that will be available to the public.
So far, Perez has enough funding to provide workshops for 100 students, thanks to donations from the Community Memorial Health System, the law firm Jones, Lester, Schuck, Becker & Dehesa, LLP., and private donors. She hopes to secure enough funding to offer workshops to a total of 500 children and teens.
Parents can sign their children up for the workshops online, and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Perez is also reaching out to local schools to discuss hosting workshops for their students.
“There’s a lot of interest. The support we’re getting is great,” said Perez. “It just feels like a very important project, and I think everybody else is feeling that too.”
For Hopps, the project and exhibit is an opportunity for children to use art as a form of healing, and for the broader community to understand how the pandemic has affected local youth.
“I think it will get a dialogue started between the children and other students, and maybe also with their parents and the community,” she said.
To sign up for a workshop or to donate to the THROUGH OUR EYES Community Art Project and Exhibit, visit www.VitaArtCenter.com Workshop spaces are limited and pre-registration is a must. Vita Art Center is located at 28 W. Main St., Ventura, CA 93001.
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