Hope Bridges visible in the community with auction pieces

Times Contributor 

 

Hope Bridges Society is coming out of the woodwork this past year in more ways than one. Not only are they dedicated to adult education and learning through the genre of art, but the society is also incredibly community oriented in its core values.

Through their Go Green – Up-Cycling program, participants make various take home art pieces weekly and work on community-oriented pieces together as a group. 

Word has spread about the programming and events in the community and how much they give back to the area in which they serve and participate in.

Three particular pieces from the group Up-Cycling projects were auctioned off at Hope Bridges first annual Art Auction this past May. All three were purchased above their valued price (which included the value of the materials used and the amount of hours put into the piece by various community members). It brought the community together to create, sell and appreciate art. 

The first item was a bench called ‘Belong’ and the inspiration behind the piece is a community art project providing Strathmore and Wheatland County with a beautiful bench for people to enjoy. 

The process included donations of the pew by the All Saints & Angels Anglican Church, paint supplies by Hope Bridges, and doilies by local residents. The project was started in September 2013 and was completed in January 2014. Strathmore-Brooks MLA Jason Hale personally purchased and donated the bench to the Strathmore Municipal Library and the Lambert Centre to be enjoyed by everyone.

The second item was a woven project called ‘Connections,’ which was inspired by the idea of working together with everyone, and with the fabrics to create a sense of connection. Donated cloth, a wooden ladder, and chicken wire were used to create this project. The end result is a mosaic of different colours and patterns. ‘Connections’ was purchased by Katy Webster and donated to Katy’s Consignment for enjoyment to the community. 

The last art piece is a wall mural called ‘Flight,’ which was inspired by samples of plastic card murals online. The idea behind the piece is to lift us to new creative heights. Creating the piece meant using recycled plastic cards and an old door for the frame. The process included drawing the colour graph, gathering the plastic cards organizing them using the colour graph, gluing the cards into place on the graph and finishing with a lacquer. Flight was also purchased by Katy Webster and was donated to Chinook Credit Union for six months for enjoyment to the community. 

Flight is part of a traveling gallery, which sent the artwork to the following places: Mark’s Work Warehouse, Home Hardware, Sears, Hope Bridges Gala in October, the Strathmore Library and Westmount School. It will continue to be part of a traveling gallery.

To learn more about the programming at Hope Bridges contact Coordinator Wanda Reinholdt at 403-983-3640 or go to their website (http://www.hopebridges.ca).