The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Painesville artist donates art pieces to Forbes House
Local artist Amy Lauria hopes to inspire the clients that call Forbes House home with her artwork.
Lauria, a Painesville resident, made the decision to donate two pieces of art to Lake County’s only domestic violence shelter after seeing a Facebook post by Kelsey Hilborn McCoy. McCoy’s father was part of the design team from Avery Dennison that put up decorative murals with inspirational quotes throughout the shelter earlier in the year.
Lauria, who used to coach McCoy in cheerleading years ago, reached out to her asking what she could do to help or what could she donate.
“I saw the (Facebook) post and I thought art, I can do art,” Lauria said.
Lauria first got into art about eight years ago after going through a divorce. She would walk the beach everyday and gather glass, stones, driftwood, wire metal and plastic, which she placed decoratively around her residence.
A friend suggested that she take all the stuff that she found on her walks and put it on canvas to which Lauria responded that she wasn’t an artist — she couldn’t draw or paint.
Her friend simply replied that she might be and that’s where her artwork began. That is also where she hopes others find inspiration.
She is hopeful her art will light a fire and make somebody think maybe they should do something with their cooking skills or their knitting or maybe they have a gift for being a social worker or a teacher. If they find something inside them they didn’t know they had than maybe it would help them let go of the past and step into something new.
Nancy Hilborn, Forbes House’s office manager, believes that art does make a difference for the clients there and does boost their morale.
“I think the client, when they take a moment, when they look at the art, it gives them a moment to reflect where they’ve been, where they are going and what’s the path they are going to take,” Hilborn said.
“It gives them that neutral zone where maybe they have some clarity on looking within because art is beautiful and I think it reveals a lot about yourself when you look at it and what you interpret it to be and that’s all personal.”
Lauria donated two pieces of her art to the shelter, a print called Childhood and a large piece depicting the moon over the lake which Forbes House Director Wanda Simmons named “Tranquility.”