The idea of the Hope Wall project came to me in 2001, while I was convalescing from a knee surgery. At that time I was working at the Medical Pavilion as a Creative Arts Therapist. By the time the Hope Wall was completed, I had become a resident Hospital Chaplain.
The vision for the wall was clear in my mind, like an in-color dream. The tiles would be painted by the staff and patients at the Medical Pavilion, a locked psychiatric facility located in Concord, California in Contra Costa County. All the tiles would reflect images of hope. Although my goal was to advance community awareness of mental health through the use of art, I had no idea that the Hope Wall would ultimately become part of the larger community of Contra Costa County.
All those involved in the project received this simple instruction: paint your image of hope on a tile, and please do not sign your tile. All artists remained anonymous.
I wanted to make the Hope Wall for many reasons. Artistic expression fosters a greater sense of self, increases self-awareness, and promotes feelings of self-accomplishment. Doing art also fosters self-integration by expressing one’s personal imagery and experience—in this case, conveying personal hopes. Painting an image of hope offers a creative and visual way for a person to find self-healing and growth.
A large group arts project can bring together a broader community of people who share similar ideas and values. In the Hope Wall, common themes and images of hope can be seen, such as rainbows, trees, and sunrises. Participants realize that they are not alone—their ideas are similar to others, and yet unique.
This is the beauty of the Hope Wall: we are all have many of the same thoughts of what hope looks like, yet each tile is so uniquely different from the others. Each individual tile, when put with other individual tile, creates a something larger.
While working on the Hope Wall, I met Clare Hope, the ceramics teacher at the nearby Mt. Diablo High School. She gave me the idea of making this wall a community project. She offered me the use of her kilns for one small exchange: to allow her students to paint tiles for the wall. This expanded my idea, and as a result, the wall became a community project. I invited the National Alliance for Mental Illness of Contra Costa County, as well as the Faith and Action Healing Interfaith Council, to contribute tiles to the project. These groups also had concern for the mental health of community residents.
At the heart of the Hope Wall, I wrote in the center on four tiles:
"The hope from inside these walls meets the hope from outside these walls, and together one wall is made. The tiles were painted by mental health patients who are locked inside this facility, and by people in our community. What I know is that all hopes are the same—they are human. My hope is that all the people involved in this project will find an increased sense of self-worth by using their creativity and their imaginations. That they will find connection with humanity through their art imagery and know that they are not different in their thinking from another. That all the people involved with this project will find pride in who they are, and that we all will find pride in our community."
The Hope Wall is now installed on the outside of the Medical Pavilion, near the front entrance, for the public to enjoy. A bench has been placed in front of the wall for those who would like to sit and meditate, or just to enjoy the vision that is front of them.
My hope is that the Hope Wall can help eliminate the stigma and marginalization that people with mental illness often experience, as well as reduce the fear that other members of the community may have towards this population. By uniting our hopes from both inside and outside the psychiatric facility, we can break down barriers of fear and misunderstanding.
The images on this wall continue to bring validation and a sense of self-worth to the community. The Hope Wall is a permanent documentation of the hope that links us and sustains us through the dark times.
