When Joyce Nagy met with Ann Witsil, the executive director of the Kinship House, to discuss painting a mural, Ann just wanted a tree.
“Ann said to me, ‘I look out my office window and see a blank wall, and I am wondering if we could get a tree.’ So, we just got the tallest ladder and that was the tallest tree we could get,” said Joyce.
And from there they created what feels like a small part of paradise in the northeast Portland Kinship House.
“We put in some smaller trees and some flowers and Jason hung a tire swing from the tree. We added some extra huge flowers. We did the flowers in neon paint. Red, blue, green, yellow. The colors really pop out, it made it more fun, more whimsical. The Kinship House is really a great idea. Their purpose really fueled my inspiration.”
Kinship House is a place that feels like home. It provides a safe haven blending child welfare and mental health services for children and families during various stages of foster care and adoption.
When Joyce was asked to paint a mural, she commissioned her friends Amy Aamodt-Allenbrand and Jason Allenbrand to join her. Joyce had met them on a mission trip to Mississippi two years ago. Though Jason and Amy do not consider themselves artists, they were willing to lend a hand.
“Joyce is definitely the artist, we just came along and tried to see what we could do. Joyce took the lead and she taught us how to make the trees look like trees. She is really good about experiential learning, ‘Just try it,’ she’d say.”
The three of them started the project a year ago painting the mural of trees in the back of the Kinship House, and the project continued this year in the front of the building. Other Rolling Hills members, including Vince Mast and Paul Fruin, have done earlier work at Kinship House.
Painting murals with trees and bright flowers is very different from Joyce’s professional work as a forensic artist with Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, where she does, among other tasks, composite drawings from witness descriptions.
“Mostly I do pictures of bad guys. That is where I make my money,” explained Joyce.
Her father was a police officer. “Dad was a lot of influence on me. Looking at the crime. He would bring it home. It was part of my life growing up. I saw it as interesting. And now to do this professionally, for me to have the position that I have, is God-given. It is part of my testimony. . .I was baptized by my forensic art teacher.”
Joyce enjoys various kinds of art, including quilting and drawing using color pencil. She has created murals for kayaks and children’s rooms. “My art at work is black and white. When I do art other than my work it is full color. I keep the two separated.”
Joyce relishes sharing her love for art — especially murals — with others. She has taught classes in various venues including Oasis in the summer. If you are curious as to who created the murals depicting Bible stories on the hallways for Tree House ministries, look no farther than Joyce. And once again, Jason and Amy were by her side.
“People just love murals. It takes something mundane and makes it whimsical. I think people like color, and instead of just looking at a blank wall, they see color. It is something pleasing to the eye.”
Reflecting on their recent work, Jason and Amy are honored to have had the chance to volunteer with Joyce.
“At the Kinship House, the staff would say, ‘This will bring so much color to the kids, instead of seeing the back of the building; when the children come to this place there will be life and warmth—just a happy place.”
For more information on the Kinship House, visit www.kinshiphouse.org
Oringally written for Rolling Hills Community Church: http://rhcc-compassion.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-mundane-to-whimsical.html
