Children across the country are helping decorate the National Mall in Washington in honor of America’s 250th anniversary.
The nonprofit organization Portraits of Hope, in partnership with Freedom 250, is enlisting creative Americans from all 50 states to paint 3,000 red, white and blue cubes that will float in the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in a massive tribute to the country’s founding. The cubes, many decorated with stars and stripes, are expected to arrive in October.
“We invite anyone” to paint, says Portraits of Hope co-founder Bernie Massey, who is traveling nationwide to enable 20,000 people to participate in the public art project. “Wherever they may happen to be, if either they know someone or they’re affiliated with someone, or they themselves personally want to get involved, we welcome all of that.”
Massey and his brother Ed started Portraits of Hope in 1995 to enable children with serious illnesses or disabilities to create widely viewed art. Projects now draw wider participation and decorate New York City taxi cabs, NASCAR race cars, lifeguard stands, fire trucks, blimps and airplanes. The colorful cubes honoring America’s founding “will end up in one of the most historic American sites,” Ed Massey says.
Designed for public display, the artwork is free for everyone to enjoy. We bring “art to the general public, the people who can’t frequent the museums,” he says. “It’s [for] the person who has a midnight or graveyard shift after hours.”
Painting at schools
To enlist children’s creativity in the reflecting pool exhibit, Portraits of Hope is traveling to schools, including the Braille Institute in Los Angeles. Students from the Westside Neighborhood School partnered with students at the Braille Institute to color cubes. By mixing ground pumice — a porous stone — with black paint, Portraits of Hope created textured outlines so visually impaired students could feel how to color in sections of canvas.
Patricia Gallardo, the institute’s director of youth and child services, says the project was a team-building opportunity, and students were excited about their work appearing on the National Mall.
“All of us showed that we can do anything working as one,” Gallardo says one of the students told her.
A nationwide effort
The nonprofit is also recruiting the help of painters at libraries and iconic American sites like the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park.
Some workshops are fashioned as 24-hour paint-a-thons, where anyone can grab a brush.
Katie Lane and her three children — Bella, Brennan and Xandie — were among dozens of people who painted at a library in Fleming Island, Florida.
For a military family that participates in the Daughters of the American Revolution and Junior American Citizens — groups that promote greater understanding of U.S. history — contributing to a civics-related art project was especially meaningful.
“It was just a very enjoyable experience for everybody,” Lane says, adding that she joined in the fun.
Her son Brennan, 16, says he appreciated “being involved in a historical project that will be viewed by the whole country.”
Xandie, 9, said she “liked having fun, making art with my family and making something colorful for America 250.”
