Hope & Healing Juried Art Show Opens at AAM, Runs Through Aug. 9, 2026
Student-created artwork inspiring hope is on view in the Museum’s Community Gallery; pieces will be donated to hospitals and healing facilities through Healing Through The Arts.
The 16th Annual Hope & Healing Juried Art Show opened in the Museum’s Community Gallery on June 11 and continues on view through August 9, 2026. Admission to the Museum and to the exhibition is free, as is parking in the Museum’s lot.
High school and college students were invited to create art that inspires hopefulness and donate it to Healing Through The Arts (HTTA). Following the gallery show, the art is available free of charge to any hospital, doctors’ office, clinic, or healing facility, to inspire patients, families, and staff. Over the years, HTTA has placed art in more than 45 hospitals and healing facilities around the greater Lehigh Valley and beyond.
“Educators tell us that when their students create hopeful art for healing, they learn more about their students,” says Heather Rodale, founder of HTTA and creator of the annual Hope & Healing Juried Art Show. “One teacher said she did not realize her students were both suffering and healing at the same time. Creating or viewing art can decrease anxiety and promote a sense of calm where healing can take place.”
This 16th annual show features art from 13 high schools, 2 universities, a career technical school, and a portfolio prep art studio. Students participate individually or with their class and this year donated 124 pieces of art for the gallery show. There were four additional pieces made and gifted by art teachers. Two of those educators participated in this show as students, now teaching in their own classrooms the value of creating and donating to the community.
Kaitlyn Purin, The peace only found in a meadow, acrylic (Tamaqua Area High School)
A total of 30 awards were given this year. Five students received Judges’ Awards and won cash prizes ranging from $500 to $150. Community Awards are selected by anyone who wants to honor the student work that speaks to them and fund the prize money; and 15 won the $100 prize this year. Additionally, the Baum School of Art awarded 10 students with scholarships.
Select artwork from all the Hope & Healing Juried Art Shows are used to create Healing Art Meditations. These single-song mini meditations combine inspiring images and soothing music from Jim Brickman and other acclaimed artists who support the work of HTTA. Meditations can be viewed from HTTA.org on any device, anywhere, anytime.
Throughout history, communities have used art, stories, music, and dances as healing practices, understanding that health is more than the absence of illness. Art shows that life is beautiful and opens the mind to new possibilities by creating optimism. Familiar scenes bring back memories. Unfamiliar ones can create a sense of wonder or desire to see more. As art emotionally draws the viewer into the picture, it can be a welcome distraction from the pain of recovery and boredom.
The Healing Through The Arts site (HTTA.org) provides instructions and guidance for creating art that is healing.
JUDGES’ AWARDS
1st PLACE
Everett Libor, Quakertown Community High School
Musical Soul
Watercolor
“Music flows through every aspect of human life. It helps us feel, express, and understand a world abstract yet clear, distant yet comfortable. Our most universal language, perfected and altered throughout hundreds of years, recognizable no matter where it comes from, is music.”
2nd PLACE
Avery Johnson, Kutztown University
Hot Air Balloons with Herons
Digital Painting
“I was inspired to create a first person perspective putting the viewer into a freeing moment and away from their situation in person. I include massive herons and bright colors to bring about a sense of wonder and calmness.”
3rd PLACE
Alma Sido de Leon, Willam Allen High School
Hope
Digital Painting
“I am hoping that my artwork creates a sense of calm for someone who is going through a tough time. I used images to help promote a sense of calmness and happiness for the viewer.”
4th PLACE
Claire Choe, Grace Art Studio (NJ)
Hope in Bloom
Acrylic
“This painting represents the natural balance within ourselves. Calm beauty and serenity is captured in the ripples of the water and the still, graceful swans.”
5th PLACE
Angelina Sysoeva, Quakertown Community High School
Home Coming
Oil Pastel
“Every spring, birds would return back home to the north as if representing the good days ahead and that winter or anything bad that happens to us never lasts forever.”
*All awards are chosen blindly. The judges, community leaders, and Baum School only see artwork titles, mediums, and inspiration statements when selecting awards. They do not see student names and schools.