Check it out!

OKA is happy to announce that two of our youth artists’ work was chosen for the latest issue of CONSPIRE, a quarterly magazine of faith, art, justice, and community. To find out more about CONSPIRE and receive your copy, visit their website here. Congratulations, Ixtzel Cruz and Julie Perez!

Calm & Wild, Mixed Media piece answering this question: What does God look like? -Ixtzel Cruz, age 13

Join us Friday, August 12th from 7PM – 9PM at the OKA House for our 3rd Annual Artists for Ayuda Exhibition and Sale. This year also on display will be the sketch books of the 5 teenagers working at the OKA House this summer as well as some artwork from them as well. The teens have been participating in a variety of reflective sketching activities guided by arts intern, Faith Kellermeyer. You wont want to miss this event!

WHAT: Artists for Ayuda is an annual exhibition where local artists donate artwork to be displayed and sold to benefit the operations of Ayuda’s Art Programming at the OKA House.

WHERE & WHEN: 4401 N. 7th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19140.  7PM – 9PM

Sup everyone it’ s Anthony here. You guys missed me, of course you did. Well I’m here to talk about our city wide mural tour.

Tuesday, July 12th. The members of  O.K.A. toured parts of center city with C.S.I (Christian Summer Institute ) and we all got to view some very interesting murals. Such as: Legacy, Autum, Winter, and Tree of Life.  These peices of art sucked in the attention of all members of the group of all ages. The many forms of art that we all saw were exteme, and the different techniques that were used to make them were also awesome. One mural was made of thousands of peices of glass, another was made up of millions of tiny little square tiles. Although the heat was intense and the walk was long, at the end of the day we popped our final frozen bottles of water and a huge slice of Lorenzo’s Pizza, and let me just add that those pizza slices were the best.

‘Til the next great adventure this is Ant (logging out) ,’: I

Hi, it’s Julie again ; ]

We went to Sacred Heart today to do our interview with the people there for the legacy quilt project. First, I interviewed Pat, and he was fun but didn’t have much to say. Then, I went around to the people who couldn’t leave their  rooms and talked to Roger. Roger was a 50 year old man who’s been paralyzed from the waist down since he was thirteen. He got cancer in 2008 and came to the Sacred Heart Home. Even though he was sick he had a lot to talk about and seemed very positive and happy. Roger  lost his best friend to leukemia when he was about 12. Yet, he was very excited and proud to be the only one from his immediate family to graduate from college. I don’t think Roger gets visited often, but he sure seemed happy to talk to me. I had a lot of fun at Sacred Heart today and I can’t wait to go back!

That’s all for now folks, God Bless.

Hello, its Gloria once again

Yesterday at the OKA house, we began to do yoga for our weekly exercise. It was pretty cool, although my body is very sore.  I had not tried to do yoga before this experience.  I liked the part were we relaxed and studied all of the parts of our body to see how they feel. The instructor in the video that we were using used very weird words to describe how we’re supposed to be feeling during and after the exercise. It made us all laugh and made it a better time. He told us to feel our face and to recognize if our feet were active. He talked in very relaxing ways that made Anthony almost fall asleep during the relaxation position. It’s very exciting and I’m very anxious to see what this exercise can bring.

Okay mate, have a nice day

Click Newsletter to enlarge and find out what’s new at the OKA House:

Artist Bio:

Even though I have never been to my native country Cambodia, I was able to see the Angkor Wat every day. It’s beautiful stone towers and khmer architecture resides on the walls of my basement. My father, whom was a contractor, would collect left over paint from his jobs to bring home. With all the cans he accumulated, he decided to paint a mural for this great temple to bring along our rich history, and traditions to the United Sates. Although I no longer live with my father nor the same home, the skills in the arts will always be with me. I never prefer a medium, because I always believe that experimentation is the greatest way to discover myself as a student. Creating art is another language that I speak; I am able to communicate without words but through expressions. I’m still learning how to utilize my knowledge in the arts as I’m moving forward to the future. Even though I never participated in the Ayuda’s Art Program, I know enough to say that it is a great program for kids to enjoy and focus on art for peace. I’m also aware that Ayuda’s Art Program is intended to contain kids away from violence and to be creative outside of school. It’s a great opportunity for adolescence to better their education and their community. The program has given me the opportunity to reach out to the community and advertize a quantity of my artwork. With this opportunity, I’ll be able to put aside some of the savings towards college. With the savings and the skills I have gained in high school, I hope to study Interior Architecture at Chatham University. Following college, I anticipate increasing my understanding or architecture and hopefully I’ll be able to construct an astonishing home for my family as well as others to live in. I try to envision life like a mural, although there can be minimum colors and tools. I struggle to use the best of everything and try to make life a work of art. Just like my father’s mural I memorize as a child, every art work can become astonishing.

Artist Bio:

I create artwork because it’s an opportunity that let’s me express who I am and think outside the box to solve problems in life. I’m going to Eastern University  for college this fall. I would like to study communication or education in college. My favorite artistic medium is working with plaster. I attended Charter High School of  Architecture and Design for four years building my portfolio. At CHAD you learn to imagine and to experience different things out of my comfort zone.  I had the chance to learn the foundation of art all the way using art to solve life situations. Now I Want to communicate with people and help others. I don’t want to study art in college but I’m not going to throw away my talent for it.  I want to be a teacher and study the Bible with teens. The OKA House has given me not only the blessing to have art classes and meet new people that  can open doors for you for the benefit of your community and future. In the beginning Michaelanne helped me with my art for high school which led to the OKA House for kids to express themselves. A place where God and imagination bond to have a positive voice to communities with great possibilities. I’m grateful for Michaelanne and all her help to better my future one artwork at a time. God bless!

Nathalie Nunez and her mom

My name is Nifeese Laron Campbell-Easton.  I was born on March 15th, 1992. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. Little did my parents know they were given a gift from God. A man that can see beyond objects and their structure, but that visualizes the meaning of each of its angles and comprehension. As a child I was not always interested in photography. I grew intrigued  when family and friends said I had an eye for grasping moments through just a camera. As I began listening to my friends and family, I grew more and more interested with photography I started taking classes at Ayuda many years ago in middle school. I grew fond of photography and started becoming very well developed. As years progressed I started high school. From then, I started being introduced to many people who’ve seen my work and have been offered many jobs and opportunities, such as birthday party’s, wedding, family portraits , ect. All of these wonderful opportunities God has blessed me with made me become a better photographer today, Now I am a high school graduate on my way off to begin a new chapter in my life at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. I am extremely excited for all the new opportunities and journeys that lay ahead of me; and I know God will continue to open doors for me because of my hard work and dedication to my career.

Nifeese And his family