Abstract Art at Wellspring Living
This week Paint Love had the great privilege of bringing an abstract art class to the girls at Wellspring Living in Atlanta, GA. Paint Love artist Ashley Hizer, taught a fun, creative and interactive class to the girls in residence at Wellspring. Based in Atlanta, GA, Wellspring Living rescues and restores girls out of sex trafficking. Wellspring was one of the first organizations Paint Love served and continues to be one of our favorite organizations to work with and groups of youth to love on. This week's project was no different!! This was our first trip to their new facility. In true Wellspring style, the new residence was warm and inviting. They have created an environment that works hard to make the girls feel loved and supported. From beautiful themed rooms, to a state of the art kitchen donated by Chick-fil-A and to (one of our favorites) the "Clothing Closet" donated by the Junior League of Atlanta filled with everything a girl could want!
We felt so welcomed by the staff, coaches, and the girls upon arrival! Ashley Hizer had a room full of eager artists. She spent two hours teaching, painting, and encouraging the girls. Beginning with stories and samples of famous abstract artists including Jackson Pollock, Wassily Kandinsky, and Willem de Kooning, she taught about the differences in brush strokes and honed in on the "freedom" these painters used in expressing their creativity. Ashley even brought in a few pieces from her own work. We love her style and we were so excited for the girls to get to see her work in person! (You can check out some of Ashley's incredible work here.)
Like sprinters at a race line, the girls were ready to dive in and begin creating. With paint brushes flying and the freedom to create whatever they wanted the girls quickly embraced their creativity. No one was want for ideas! It was such a joy to watch them paint, paint-over, and land on a finished piece they were pleased with.
We might have gotten a little messier than usual in this class, but when your expressing yourself…there are no limits! When it was time to wrap up, the girls jumped up and began to help us clean! What an amazing treat to be able to serve these sweet and generous young women! It was such a joy to be around a loving group. And it was so much fun to watch Ashley share her amazing talent!
When asked about the event, Ashley said, "It was such an honor and privilege to work with such an awesome organization. Thanks to Paint Love to connecting me to these incredible girls who I believe blessed and taught me much more than I could have imparted. They created some beautiful masterpieces expressing their individual personalities, and I look forward to making more art with them!"
We are beyond grateful for the work, time and resources Ashley put in to making this event so great! We are so lucky to have artists like Ashley who have a heart for youth in Atlanta! We also want to thank the staff and young ladies at Wellspring for making us feel so welcome and our generous donors Amy Motteram and the Noel Family for providing canvases. It was a wonderful event!! We look forward to our next opportunity to serve once again at Wellspring.