Calvary Students Paint Spheres for Local Artist’s Major Art Installation
The students were taking part in local artist Ed Massey’s latest art project for Portraits of Hope: The Spheres at MacArthur Park.
“We’re so excited because Calvary Christian is the first school in our entire project to participate,” Massey told the Palisadian-Post at the painting site located at The Edge at Plaza El Segundo.
For the major art installation project, Massey will be filling MacArthur Park Lake in mid-August with thousands of floating, hand-painted colorful spheres.
As part of their day, the Calvary students also participated in a Portraits of Hope educational course that enlightened them about important issues and ways to make a difference in the world.
Students were asked to take $100 (conceptually) and choose how much to spend on issues like animal welfare, environment, senior citizen care, health care, poverty, foreign aid, education and more. It allowed the youngsters to think about what issues are most important to them.
Other goals of the day included learning about teamwork and collaboration.
To put these concepts into practice, students worked in teams to paint spheres while following specific directions about which colors to use and taking care to paint within the lines. Baby wipes were on hand for any slip-ups.
The Spheres project is the latest in a long line of eye-catching art installation projects for Portraits of Hope, which Massey and his brother launched in 1995 as a creative therapy program for children with serious illness or disabilities.
The Spheres project aims to beautify a neglected part of Los Angeles, Massey said.
“We’re painting these awesome inflatable spheres for Portraits of Hope and they are going to be set out on a lake to beautify that lake because that area has recently gotten less popular because of all the ugly crime and they want to bring back the beauty of that area,” said Calvary student Gage Grimes as he painted a sphere with orange and teal paint.
Calvary teacher Susan Knight said the field trip was a unique opportunity for the students.
“We want our third graders to experience ways to branch out of their community and help other communities,” Knight said.
Thousands more children are expected to take part in the project, Massey said.
“We’re inviting every school and everyone in a service program, after-school program or sports program to bring your teams out here and get involved and paint. We have thousands of spheres to cover and only a few months to do it. It’s the largest public and civic arts project, probably, in the world right now,” Massey said.
Painting sessions are free and open to the public. Open painting sessions are held on weekends from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at The Edge at Plaza El Segundo, 730 F Allied Way, El Segundo.
For more information on weekday painting and group participation, visit portraitsofhope.org/projects/spheres.
