Archives

Coeurs Magiques

May 4, 2013 by Melissa Schilling

We LOVE the girls of OJFA so much, we wanted each girl to have a piece of our heart. Lead Artist Jenni Ward created these magic wands so the girls could invoke magic and hold tight to the idea that even from afar, we love them so much. You can support Art in Haiti AND have your very own coeurs magiques by clicking here. Handmade Art Hearts! Give a bouquet to the one you love! These hearts are made by […]

Categories: Art Projects, Fundraiser • Tags: art, clay, haiti, hearts, kiln, magic, photography, pottery, wands

Leave a comment

Bwat Aliminyom

April 4, 2013 by Melissa Schilling

Bwat Aliminyom means Aluminum Cans, in Kreyòl. We are always looking for ways to create fun, whimsy and art from unwanted discarded materials. So when Delphine Bedu spied these cans on a pier in Key West, Florida all of us sat up and took notice. As we speak, our home team artists at the Project HOPE Art Center at HC, Racine Polycarpe, Claudel Casseus and Romel Jean Pierre are devising a class around upcycling cans into planes, boats and cars. […]

Categories: Art Projects, Partners • Tags: art, cans, children, do, fun, haiti, make, race, trash, upcycling

Leave a comment

Claire Heureuse and the start of Freedom Soup

January 17, 2013 by Melissa Schilling

The girls began pummeling garlic and parsley in three seperate batches, in wooden mortar and pestles on New Years Eve. Twenty girls strong were all participating in a task associated with the famous Haitian Winter Squash Soup known as Soup Joumou or Freedom Soup. To make enough soup for 40 people the girls would cut, chop, pound, puree and stir into the wee hours of the night. Then a shift of girls would go to sleep and a new round […]

Categories: Haitian Culture/Language, short story series, Visual Storytelling • Tags: freedom, haiti, soup joumou

Leave a comment

short story: oranges and granola

December 16, 2012 by Melissa Schilling

Oranges and Granola The tall catholic church stood gleaming against the grime of the street. Women crouched on their heels hawking fruit across from the church. The most beautiful fruit. More beautiful than could be found inside the adjacent supermarket. More beautiful fruit than in any supermarket in all of Haiti. The only good thing about the supermarkets with the wilting produce was the air conditioning. It was almost worth it to purchase a single soft apple or brown tinged […]

Categories: short story series • Tags: desperate, food, granola, haiti, oranges, photography, poor, short story

PhotoPhilanthropy Visual Essay Submission, 2012

October 21, 2012 by Melissa Schilling

Bleak Landscapes and Grim Living Conditions meet your arch nemesi: Vibrant Color, Laughter and Creativity. This photo essay follows a group of American artists through the slums of Port au Prince and into schools, hospitals and orphanages. In their war against despair the best weapon of choice is intentional whimsy and purposeful joy. Project HOPE Art is comprised of a colorful cast of characters that appeal to my inner child. They work fervently to heal and inspire the children around […]

Categories: Art Projects, Join the Team, Visual Storytelling • Tags: art, children, culture, haiti, Joy, Living Angels, photography, Third World, Visuals, Whimsy

Leave a comment

sirèn, zetwal lamè ak avanti anba dlo a

October 4, 2012 by Melissa Schilling

To make believe: (idiomatic) To pretend or imagine. To form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one’s mind. For our January 2013 trip to Haiti we will be creating an under the sea adventure for classrooms, hospitals and orphanage bedrooms. Sirèn, zetwal lamè ak avanti anba dlo a (mermaids, sea stars and underwater adventures) will abound. Christopher Columbus reported seeing mermaids while exploring the Caribbean 500 years ago. People have spotted mermaids in the […]

Categories: Art Projects • Tags: art, carribbean, crafts, DIY, haiti, imagine, mermaids, ocean, pretend, sea

Leave a comment

Monkey Flower Ranch Voodoo Dinner_print-2

2nd Annual Voodoo Donor Dinner

September 24, 2012 by Melissa Schilling

‘Art is the Universal Language” All we want to do is create bright, stress-free moments in time for the children who live in some of the poorest communities on earth. Right now we are focused on Haiti. The money we raise goes towards English Lessons to support our Art + Literacy programming; Urban Agriculture projects to support our Art + Nutrition programming and a hell of a lot of glitter to support dancing and twirling in our Intentional Whimsy programming. […]

Categories: Fundraiser, Thank Yous, Urban Agriculture • Tags: cheese, dinner, farm, fundraiser, haiti, photography, science

Leave a comment

Thymus vulgaris

July 30, 2012 by Melissa Schilling

We’d like to thank Cleanwell for providing us with hand sanitizer on each and every trip to Haiti. We are looking forward to expanding our programming into Rwanda and bringing more alcohol-free hand sanitizer with us. Thymus vulgaris has been used as an antiseptic for thousands of years in Roman, Greek, and Indian (Ayurvedic) medicine. In medieval times, the plant symbolized courage, and to keep up their spirits, knights departing for the Crusades received scarves embroidered with a sprig of […]

Categories: Thank Yous • Tags: children, clean, cleanwell, disease, haiti, photography, safe, Thymus vulgaris

Leave a comment

Moringa Seedlings

June 13, 2012 by Melissa Schilling

Here at PHA we have a smaller internal team dedicated to germinating Moringa Seeds. It’s proving to be a tough endeavor coaxing life into these dry, scaly seeds in the cool Northern California climate. Our last seed germination project, a Pwa Workshop was so simple and straightforward. You can grow a 3 inch bean seedling in under a week with almost zero effort. Not so with these Moringas. Lead Artist Jenni Ward incubated these two seeds on a fish tank […]

Categories: Art Projects, Urban Agriculture • Tags: bean, garden, haiti, moringa, tree of life, Urban Agriculture

Leave a comment

washing clothes

March 11, 2012 by Melissa Schilling

Haiti faces key challenges in the water supply and sanitation sector: * Haiti’s coverage levels in urban and rural areas are the lowest in the hemisphere for both water supply and sanitation. Sewer systems and wastewater treatment are nonexistent. * In rural areas those without access to an improved water source got their water primarily from unprotected wells (5%), unprotected springs (37%) and rivers (8%). In urban areas those without access to an improved source got their water from “bottled […]

Categories: Haitian Culture/Language • Tags: clean, clothes, haiti, ideas, ngo, photography, poop, sanitation, sewer, water

Leave a comment

Magic Moringa Tree

February 16, 2012 by Melissa Schilling

We are always open to exploring sustainable, gardening, food production-centric art projects. It was with excitement that we stumbled onto the Moringa Tree upon a recommendation from a former Peace Corps volunteer who had worked with the tree in Africa. Also commonly known as “the horseradish tree,” the leaves from this plant have: 7 times the vitamin C in oranges 4 times the calcium and 2 times the protein in milk 4 times the vitamin A in carrots 3 times […]

Categories: Urban Agriculture • Tags: aid relief, art, cooking, creole, food, growth, haiti, moringa, photography, sustainability, tree

Sundresses for Haiti Keep Rolling In…

October 8, 2011 by kathybarbro

I’d like to give a special thank you to all the amazing seamstresses who continue to send in homemade sun dresses for HOPE Art’s Dress Drive. Our original goal was 30 dresses, a new one for each girl, and our count is now at 68 and still climbing!! It’s been incredibly heartwarming to watch them continue to come in. For those of you that may not have sewing skills, but would like to support this project, HOPE Art has a […]

Categories: Thank Yous • Tags: fundraiser, haiti

Leave a comment

Green versus Brown

May 7, 2011 by Melissa Schilling

Everyone on my plane was crying. Tears in their eyes. Even the men. Especially the men, as we glided serenely past the lush, bright, vibrant Dominican Republic and into the dusty, brown, tired, overworked landscape of Haiti. The difference between the two at 10,000 feet is startling. Later, I walked near an open air farmers market. And rode several times past Cite Soleil. No text book or anecdote could ever come close to teaching me about the slave trade in […]

Categories: Fundraiser • Tags: culture, flight, haiti, life, politics, slave, work

Flying Hands Mural: Art is the Universal Language

January 23, 2011 by Melissa Schilling

When you work with kids, to give them a voice in an environment that is particularly harsh, crushing and potentially foreshadowing of hardship to come. It is important, in my opinion, to foster flying when possible. To rise above the hurdles and let them not hinder dreams and goals. Our resident art teacher, Jenni Ward, brought down a large oiled drop cloth and paints. Teachers and Students alike decorated it with hand prints. Then the HOPE Art team doodled all […]

Categories: Haitian Culture/Language • Tags: art, culture, dragon, dreams, dropcloth, earthquake, flying, flying pigs, haiti, HOPE Art, mural, paint, pegasus, women

Leave a comment

Freedom

January 20, 2011 by Melissa Schilling

Words escape me, on describing this Haiti Trip. Cruel Poverty. Beautiful Strength. Raw Survival. Laughter. Love. I know I need to go back, again and again to fully understand what is happening. Not on a political landscape. But a human landscape. This is truly what life is about � and I am so far removed from real life in my air conditioned SUV, in my air conditioned fully stocked supermarket, in my automatic overdraft online banking deposit a check […]

Categories: Haitian Culture/Language • Tags: 2011, culture, earthquake, food, freedom, haiti, learning, love, people

Leave a comment

HOPE Art Holiday Wish List

December 15, 2010 by Melissa Schilling

We leave in about two weeks for Haiti. And just like Sanata we’ve made our list and we’ve checked it twice. Flights are booked. Hotel is confirmed. Shots and medications are in place. We just need a few more items. If you’d like to help us out this holiday season, please choose something from this list.

Categories: Fundraiser • Tags: donations, gifts, haiti, help, holidays, please, supplies, thank you

Leave a comment

How Julie got to Haiti

November 6, 2010 by Melissa Schilling

n order to get to how I ended up in Haiti, I have to back up a few years. The summer of '85 was a happy one for my parents… I'd like to think. I was born a happy healthy baby in central California. A few short years later my mom and dad divorced, only to get remarried to others not long after that. My step-dad had a job down in Florida, so my mom, older sister and I moved […]

Categories: short story series • Tags: Airport, Customs, haiti, Julie, taptap, Travel

Leave a comment

Follow “”