I moved into the Grove Park neighborhood during the period of my life as I was transitioning out of teaching art at Atlanta Youth Academy, a faith-based (Christian) school established to educate underserved African-American students.  At the same time, my husband and I were participating on a launch team to form a church with the vision of worshipping together in a diverse community of those seeking to hear the far-reaching story of God in one's personal life.  

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One Sunday I resonated with a question in the sermon ... "Who is your neighbor?" The context from the story of The Good Samaritan. After years of learning biblical texts, words I had once memorized came to my mind:

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• Love your neighbor as yourself

• Help the poor, the needy, the widows, and the orphans

• Set the prisoners free

• Be devoted to one another in love

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How do I live that?  Seeds were planted that day.  Eventually my husband, I, our daughters and sons-in-law were prompted to move into Grove Park - a neighborhood only a few miles from our present neighborhood, yet very different from our present situation. 

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Now, eight years later, I am leasing an art studio in a newly renovated building in Grove Park that houses organizations focused on Grove Park in some of these ways:  affordable housing, restoration of homes, counseling, music recording, fashion design, a comprehensive ministry to kids and their families, along with the Grove Park Foundation. 

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I am the "artist in residence."  And as I have moved out of my comfort zone, my art has become freer.  It is evolving into expressive new forms. And, in addition to painting on canvas, I occasionally paint fabrics to be used in clothing designs by my next-door studio friend. 

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Reflecting on my life, I see that God has given me this gift and when I enter my studio each day, I am humbled by what He has enabled me to create when I look at the canvasses.  Thank You, God! To adapt a quote from Chariots of Fire, "When I paint, I feel His pleasure." 

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As a result, through my art I wanted to be used to help my new community through two connection organizations, PAWKids - an afternoon enrichment program for students and parents in the neighborhood -- and Grove Park Renewal -- an organization that helps provide affordable housing to PawKids families living in substandard conditions.  40% of my art sales will go to the team effort of these two non-profits.  

 

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