Project Hope
Bess Green, Art Therapist, painting birds in nest - More Photos on Flickr
Project Hope was the brainchild of PNA, Brenda Logan, who was inspired by the children on Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services (CAPS) to create a healing environment based around the concept of hope. With a background in art and connections to local artists, Brenda brought the idea to Community Relations and the Volunteer Services Council.
With the support of the Volunteer Services Council, Brenda’s vision became reality in July of 2008. During Phase I of the project, over 20 volunteer artists from Austin and as far as Galveston, arrived at the Recreation Center on the Austin State Hospital campus to paint visions of hope based on a the answers given by children to the following question: “What does hope look like?”
The children’s responses included the following:
a flower growing out of a break in the concrete
graduating from high school
a baby taking his first steps with his family
“Danny” walking with a dinosaur
The completed paintings were installed on the CAPS units in the bedrooms and dayrooms. The children on the units take great pride in showing off the paintings in their bedrooms when visitors come through.
July 25, 2009
Phase II of Project Hope is the creation of paintings for Adult Psychiatric Services (APS), which serves patients between the ages of 18-55. Asked what we could do to help them, patients did not mention medications or therapy; rather, they overwhelmingly responded that they want to know that we have hope for their recovery from the symptoms of mental illness. Adult patients have gathered images cut from magazines, drawn their own depictions of hope and described what hope looks like for them. On Saturday, July 25, 2009, patients from APS joined education/rehab staff creating the first paintings destined for the bedrooms, dayrooms and comfort rooms on APS. Images included roses, hearts, rainbows, nature scenes, and words of inspiration. On Sunday, July 26th, volunteers from the community, including artists, school children and staff, joined to create additional paintings. There is still more work to be done! Phase II will be continued in October. The public is invited to join the effort through the donation of paints, brushes, help priming boards, and painting visions of hope. For more information about assisting with Project Hope, contact Debbie Trammell, Debbie.Trammell@dshs.state.tx.us, (512) 419-2323.
July 26, 2009
Phase 3 will be the creation of a mural honoring the over 150 volunteers who bring hope to our patients each day. Phase 4 will depict “Hope” 3-dimensionally in sculptures placed on campus as a reminder that recovery is possible as long as we keep hope alive. Artist Gilbert Beall is putting his creativity to work designing the sculptures using pink granite. The projected completion date for Project Hope is 2011, the 150th anniversary of the admission of the first 12 patients to the “Texas State Lunatic Asylum.”
Special thanks to the many volunteers who bring hope to our patients daily, as well as our local Sherwin-Williams paint store for the donation of primer for the first two phases of the project.
Help keep Project Hope alive with your donation to the Volunteer Services Council!
$5 provides 3 paint brushes
$10 provides a tube of acrylic paint
$20 provides 5 feet of plastic to protect the Rec Center floors
$50 provides acrylic paint to complete a 4×4′ panel for a comfort room
$100 provides acrylic paint to complete a 4×8′ panel for a dayroom
$500 provides granite slab for base of sculpture
$1000 provides granite block for sculpture
Do you have some of these items in your closets, garage or storage shed? Donate painting and sculpting supplies to Community Relations on the Austin State Hospital campus. For information about donations, call (512) 419-2330.
Map to Community Relations for the Austin State Hospital Volunteer Services Council.
