The Connections Project

From the Heart

The Connections Project gallery

The Connections Project invites individuals to connect with those who don’t look, think, or act like us. Various stances on social issues, race, gender, and the economy spark heated debates in the public sector, on social media, and around family dinner tables. This project challenges individuals to take a fresh look at how they see their neighbors.

More than 2,000 students and community members answered a prompt printed on a postcard as a first step to begin to recognize our prejudices. For example, one prompt invited a response on how diverse people could find a common interest. Individuals wrote sentences or drew pictures on the back of the postcards, which were incorporated into the display.

The Connections project participant card examples

For another part of the Connections project, I interviewed a dozen people to talk about our universal prejudices towards others. One man recognized and admitted his unfair bias against Muslim people and explained how he started to change his wrong attitudes. He said, “While riding a bus one day, I ended up sitting next to a Muslim woman, so I decided to start a friendly conversation with her. As we talked, the woman responded with a warm smile.” In that healing moment, the man decided to confront his bias and intentionally show kindness to the Muslim woman.

The Connections project also personally challenged me to take a fresh look at my own attitudes towards others. I discovered that I find it very easy to form negative opinions about others as I wait in the checkout line at the grocery store, judging people for their unhealthy food choices or their lack of parenting skills. Sadly, these biases reveal my pride and lack of grace towards others.

As I listened to others during the interviews and considered my own blind spots, I decided to ask participants to consider one further challenge: Make a new friend with someone who is different. Over the last year, I have been forming new friendships—across cultural dividing lines—with those who don’t look, think, or act like me. Through these relationships, I have learned that those who seem different are actually a lot like me.

The Connections Project gallery

If we take the first step by talking to the person next to us, like the man on the bus, we can overcome our prejudices and grow in our understanding for others. By just listening to our neighbor’s stories, we can begin to recognize what we have in common. Every society needs courageous individuals who endeavor to let go of what divides us and adopt an attitude of generosity for others.

What Are Your Life Words?

From the Heart

Pamela coaching/mentoring Sarah and other young women entrepreneurs

Two words that guide my daily decisions are “intentional” and “purposeful.” I’m constantly asking myself, does this particular choice or opportunity fit my overall life purpose and help me to remain intentional? These words guide me as I think about my life goals and where to invest my time each day. One of my goals includes intentionally encouraging younger female leaders in their creative work. Sarah Guevara is one such leader.

Sarah and I met online through a mutual friend. For the past two years as a leadership coach, I have been mentoring Sarah and helping her reach her goals of serving Hispanic refugees in California and championing other women. Since we live across the country from one another, Sarah and I mostly meet on Zoom. During our mentor sessions, we discuss the challenges of juggling motherhood, a business career, and school, as we both pursue our prospective graduate degrees. Mostly, I just listen to her as she shares her victories and life’s challenges, offering empathy and constructive feedback when appropriate.

Once a year, I fly to California to meet in-person with Sarah and some of her business friends, to talk about their projects and their successes. During these sessions, I field questions about how to start a nonprofit, how to grow a creative business, and how to connect with others through hands-on art workshops. These fun gatherings around Sarah’s kitchen table include helping the younger women see how they can adapt some of these ideas to use for their work. I also share examples of my business mistakes and failures, because these hard lessons offer opportunities to grow in humility and resilience.

We also talk about my “art wounds” from the last sixteen years of slugging it out as a creative. These wounds could fill a bucket with tears as I’ve learned that the business world isn’t always a kind place, and the work of an innovator or entrepreneur can be very challenging. But over the years, I continue to work hard by remaining intentional and purposeful about my calling as an artist and mentor. In the end, my art wounds can be turned into lessons to encourage others as they also face unique challenges.

While investing my time and resources in Sarah, I want to continue to remain purposeful. So, I intentionally share my life stories—the good, the bad, and the ugly—to inspire others and to encourage them as they pursue their own dreams. We need all these experiences, the positive and the negative, to develop into strong women and men who can purposefully lead others with a redemptive message of hope and healing. What are some life words that could help direct you and keep you on course? And how can you intentionally apply these words in your life to help others?

Sarah Guevara, founder and CEO of HER Tribal, is a momma raising an army of three beautiful and feisty girls. She is a life and leadership coach and is working towards a Masters of Women’s Leadership from Wagner University.

To learn more about Pamela’s artwork, visit Healing in Arts.

The Scarlet Cord—Sex Trafficking Workshop on Zoom

Behind the Artwork

Arizona high school kids participated in a Healing in Arts sex trafficking workshop

Recently, 75 Arizona high school kids participated in one of the Healing in Arts workshops. After watching The Scarlet Cord film, the students created paintings for their own exhibit on sex trafficking. They also invited family members and friends to write healing messages on 750 wooden hearts. The inspiring notes will be given to survivors at a residential treatment center.

Arizona high schooler student sex trafficking workshop art
Arizona high schooler student sex trafficking workshop art
Arizona high schooler student sex trafficking workshop art
Arizona high schooler student sex trafficking workshop art

For the Do 1 Thing Challenge, we discussed a few possible action steps:

  1. Educate yourself on what it means to get and give sexual consent
  2. Think critically about how the media depicts sexuality
  3. Stop viewing and texting pornography

Healing messages on wooden hearts

The Scarlet Cord, an in-person or virtual workshop for high school students, deals with the topic of human trafficking and fosters empathy and action. The workshop includes the 11-minute Scarlet Cord film, a short presentation, and an opportunity to create an awareness painting. Participants are invited to take the Do 1 Thing Challenge to combat sex trafficking—our modern day slavery.

Arizona high schooler student sex trafficking workshop art

Thanks to all our partners who made this creative care possible!

#sextrafficking #AZ #artistwithoutborders #awareness

Courage for This Hour

Behind the Artwork

Beauty - Part of the Courage Ablaze watercolor painting collection

A decade ago, a group of beautiful women from Congo caught my attention with their brightly colored dresses. When I went over to meet them. I introduced myself as an artist. Immediately, their American sponsor asked if I would be willing to paint their portraits and tell their stories for ArtPrize. This yearly art event hosted in Grand Rapids, Michigan, showcases the work of around 1,400 artists to 600,000 annual visitors. At the time, I knew nothing of Congo. I honestly didn’t even know where Congo was located on the map, other than it was somewhere in Africa.

Over the next year, I immersed myself in the Congolese stories, while painting their portraits for ArtPrize. As I learned about the horrific genocide and rape in Congo, the refugees’ courage, coupled with joy, inspired me. These resilient women caused me to question my life and my response to suffering.

Examples of Courage Ablaze watercolor paintings

Recently, during my Consumers Credit Union interview with their chief marketing officer, Lynne Jarman-Johnson, she asked, “Out of the last eleven years of ArtPrize, which work was the most personally inspiring to you?” I instantly thought of my project with the women of Congo. Their stories of suffering and loss made an impact on how I face hard times, especially as we head into another year of uncertainty—with political unrest, social upheaval, and an unrelenting worldwide pandemic.

Find out more about the interview…

Art Workshop in Texas

Behind the Artwork

Collaborative artwork being created in the Texas art workshop

As an artist without borders, my work demonstrates how art can engage participants by activating new creative spaces. In November, I traveled to Austin, Texas, to present my interactive art at the Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) conference. My presentation and workshop showed fellow artists how to connect with an audience through a collaborative project called “Art Mysteries.”

The hands-on activity challenged participants in team building as they problem-solved together. After coloring small tiles, the group compiled the pieces like a puzzle. This fun, team-building exercise celebrated collective community expression and exhibited how art can be part of the healing solution.

Finished artwork created in the Texas workshop

Healing in Arts activates spaces where people become part of a healing canvas. Offering community workshops and collaborations, Healing in Arts emphasizes creative care in our collective journey towards growth.

Creative Care When it’s Needed Most

General

Special Needs adults at David's House having fun with sponge painting project during the pandemic in early 2021

Earlier this year, because of the pandemic, we weren’t able to facilitate our hands-on project at David’s House, a local nonprofit servicing adults with special needs. Instead, we donated the art supply kits. After the staff safely engaged with the residents, we received these fun photos of the participants and their lovely sponge-painted artwork. We would like to thank all our dedicated donors for their generous support as we continue to collaborate with our community through art.

Special Needs adults at David's House having fun with sponge painting project during the pandemic in early 2021
Special Needs adults at David's House having fun with sponge painting project during the pandemic in early 2021
Special Needs adults at David's House having fun with sponge painting project during the pandemic in early 2021
Special Needs adults at David's House having fun with sponge painting project during the pandemic in early 2021

Join our team and help support our healing work!

Yellow Ribbon Project

General
The Yellow Ribbon Project

Yellow Ribbon

The Yellow Ribbon Project goes beyond the symbolic gesture of tying yellow ribbons around trees to welcome service members home. It activates interactive spaces to honor veterans and their families. By inviting viewers to write on the ribbons to acknowledge the sacrifices made by military personnel, the project adds a personal touch. This collaborative effort involves artist Pamela Alderman and Kent County Veterans Services.

An additional collaboration showcased Yellow Ribbon at nine Steelcase locations and spread awareness with a diverse audience. As their employees participated, the positive impact continued to grow.

Extending the initiative, the Blue Star Mothers, a support group for moms of military service members, contributed by adding nearly 30,000 yellow ribbons from the project to care packages for deployed soldiers. The responsive art created a micro-community of unity and support for our troops.

“Your service is not in vain. You are loved. You are appreciated.”
“Your service is appreciated and not forgotten. God bless you.”
“Thank you for protecting our home.”
“We would not be able to live life the way we are without people like you.”

Looking ahead to 2024, the Yellow Ribbon Project will expand with the unveiling of Art for Honor, an exhibit featuring artwork crafted by veterans at the citywide ArtPrize event in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This immersive art fosters a deeper connection between veterans and offers the broader public a chance to hear our heroes.

Healing in Arts

We create interactive art experiences to build hope, care, and connections.

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