Submitted by the Healing Arts Center.
If you’ve dropped by the Healing Arts Center any time these last couple of months, you have seen some impressive and beautiful changes. In June, we simultaneously completed three major capital improvement projects: 13 new double-pane windows and doors, cedar siding on the front face of the building, and the rebuild and expansion of our exterior porch, stairs, and upper deck. These are projects we’ve been working on since last August, which have been made possible in part by generous community donations directly to the Healing Arts Center and to the Orcas Island Community Foundation. In anticipation of this long-awaited moment, the Healing Arts Center sought funding from OICF for a major land restoration and garden installation project, which is going on now and taking place through July.
A second phase of the project will take place in the fall for more seasonally appropriate activities, such as major transplanting.
This was all envisioned by one of the center’s biggest fans, Emily Aring, owner of KaBloom Productions. Emily is a garden designer, installer and plant whisperer. You have seen her work throughout town, including the OI public library. Emily was inspired in part by our 35th anniversary this year, and a desire to leave a lasting legacy for the Healing Arts Center and all its community to enjoy. She approached Christopher Evans (then Healing Arts President) this winter, and the two began to dream and scheme together. The proposal was a $40,000 installation brought down to $16,000 through in-kind donations, volunteering, and generous donations of professional labor.
However, a snag happened for our organization this Spring in the OICF campaign when we only were able to bring in $9,100 for the project. As we began to look into creative ways to trim down the scope of the project or eliminate pieces of it altogether, an amazing synergy began to take place. More and more of our team of artists, contractors and professionals began to waive their meager stipend for labor that they were already offering far below their value.
The Healing Arts Center would like to thank the following people who have made this project possible. They have been beyond generous and indispensable with their donations of time, materials, artistry and labor:
Emily Aring (design, install, plants and materials) Michael Budnick (excavation magician), Blake Beale (flag stone pathways), James Most (irrigation), Matt Nelson (bench artist), Jared Lovejoy (master ceramicist and fountain builder), Zackarya Leck (metal work artist), Greg Ripley (Bion Plumbing), ORS/The Exchange (Orcas recycled sand donation),
Healing Arts Center members Christopher Evans, Rick Doty, Michael Mitchell, Iona McCombie Smith, Patrick Stockstill, Trina Doerfler and Michael Seahauf. There is still time to support this amazing project and even join our team! The Healing Arts Center is a 501(c) (3) for 35 years on Orcas and gratefully appreciates your contribution. Healing Arts Center: orcashealingarts@gmail.com.
