Children leaned over butterfly-shaped glass, carefully adding spoonfuls of color to each wing and watching their designs take shape.
Thirty children at Sunset Heights, a National CORE affordable housing community, created individual glass butterflies for Luminous Journey, a sculpture representing the creativity and connection of a community.
Once fired, their butterflies will join dozens of others in the finished sculpture, which will be displayed at the Ontario Hyatt Regency, now under renovation.
As the children worked, glass artist Carlyn Ray encouraged them to consider what their butterflies could represent.
Jocian, 12, decided her butterfly meant “hope and growth.”
“If my butterfly could carry one hope into the world, I would want everyone to be healthy and safe,” Jocian said.
Nearby, Elizabeth, 8, created a butterfly she said symbolizes her hope that people would keep the world clean. She was excited to know her artwork would become part of a larger sculpture.
“It feels awesome,” she said.
For Carlyn, the event was also an opportunity to show children where creativity can lead. When she was young, she met few women who were glass artists. That meant forging her own creative journey.
“What you see and what speaks to your heart, I believe you can do,” Carlyn said. “It’s not that I’m trying to create glass artists. I’m trying to open the door to their heart and have them believe that they can follow their heart and they can follow their passion.”
Long after the children’s butterflies are fired and assembled into the finished sculpture, Carlyn hopes the experience stays with them.
“My hope is that they walk away knowing that they are important, that they are important to their community, that they are artists, that they are creative and that they can be anything that they want to be,” she said.
