Casting Hope
- Cecile Grace Charles
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Casting Hope, mixed media, with copper accent and gypsum flowers, is about people who dedicate their lives to making things better for other people. Sometimes it is through religious beliefs. Sometimes it is through a deep and abiding desire to do good to other people and to care for them. Sometimes it is because they too have had traumatic lives and they don’t want others to go through that. The artwork is dedicated to those that do-good things, for their community, no matter the motivation.
This artwork is also about Rick Clark, I was inspired to paint it when he helped someone I know, whose children I have taught art to. I won’t let on whom that was, but when I paint about inspirations, sometimes the inspiration comes directly from someone in our community. Rick is worthy of my art muse. You may not see his face in this artwork, but you certainly can see his soul. Rick is a local, rather famous person, who dedicated his life to helping others through leadership. It started within him, a heart of gold, a few things in a backpack. He has moved mountains, been walked on, and yet, he is still pristine in his desire to affect a difference. He has ridden the waves in a boat filled with love for his fellow human being. There is no greater love than that, and I was able to capture it I believe, in this artwork.
I personally focus on giving free art lessons to the disenfranchised that miss the help from the non-profits. There are hundreds of children that just don’t get through the system. I find these children through word of mouth and they get lessons from me. Sometimes it is at my home, sometimes it is at their home, sometimes it is at their car because that is what their family is living in. I could have a non-profit, I know a great deal about the “how too”, but I have found that often non-profits have a very narrow bit of room to work within.
Although I spend around $3500.00 a year on this, I do not take donations for what I do. In the beginning, when I was working towards becoming a non-profit, I noticed those involved volunteering, had a tendency to use the children to bolster their egos and they would brag about the effort, take pictures of the children and post them on social media for kudos, etc. and I did not like the behavior. I stopped taking volunteers with me as well, they just did not know how to behave, these children are not toys, and I don’t have time to babysit the adults, I want my time to go to the art classes and for the children. I protect the children, by giving them classes, pay for it myself and I do not video them or take pictures of them. Never. It is a rule with me, I don’t take advantage of them in any way, I just teach them what I know about art.
I have been fingerprinted, can pass a background check, I used to teach art for a local entity, I have the schooling and if it were required, I could reinstate my licensing, to answer any negative nellies questions. I won’t ever be accused of fraud because I earn the money I use to pay for the materials.
If you do want to be involved, buy a tshirt or any other merchandise from my online stores, or buy a piece of original art like Casting Hope. The flowers in this artwork represent the little children I teach and the sprinkles of love that Rick has cast into the sea of life.
Links to my stores:
TeePublic Storefront https://www.teepublic.com/user/cecile-grace-charles-designs
Spoonflower Storefront https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/cecilegracecharles_
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