An artist who lost her own work in a fire at a senior citizen apartment complex is using her talent to inspire her neighbors.
Jeri Hubbard said she uses her artistic talent to soothe the pain she feels inside, like with a three-layer quilt she made.
“Every stitch is like knitting, putting something in and then letting go of it,” she said.
She has let go of the sadness after losing everything she owns when a raging fire broke out at the Arthur Capper Senior Apartment complex in Southeast D.C. about a month ago, destroying her unit, 25 dolls she created and 40 other pieces of her art, including papier-mâché sculptures, jewelry and little houses.
“I can’t get those back, and the only thing that I can do now is to create new pieces that will let me go on and move on,” she said.
She has moved on with her life with a plan to teach art classes to the 160 seniors affected by the fire. She said the classes will help them.
“Art is a way of letting go, even if you just take a crayon and just scribble on a piece of paper,” she said.
She’ll share her idea with management at Arthur Capper Senior Apartments in a few weeks.
She also plans to host four art exhibits in the D.C. area.
