Shaping Hope by Hand

How a CEIVA Sculpture Workshop Helped Students See Restoration With Their Own Hands

Some truths are easier to understand when you can touch them.

At I AM ART Camp at CEIVA, a four-day sculpture workshop helped students experience one of the core messages of I AM ART in a tangible way: brokenness is real, but restoration is possible.

Led by Amelia Moore of Athentikos, the workshop brought together CEIVA students, teacher Melany, Athentikos intern Rosie Messeder, and a visiting Grace Christian Academy student Abigail Radar in a shared creative process.

Over the course of the week, participants created both a mixed-media sculpture and a layered pastel piece, each designed to reflect the camp’s daily themes: I Am Art, I Am Broken, I Am Restored, and I Am Connected.

Building Something Honest

For the sculpture project, students began by building wire forms. They then stretched fabric over the structures and covered the surface with glue to create a hardened shell.

The first painted layer was black. That choice was intentional. It represented pain, loss, brokenness, and the parts of life we often want to hide.

Light Over the Darkness

Later, students returned to those same sculptures and covered them with color and movement inspired by The Starry Night. Swirling patterns of light emerged over the darkness, visually echoing a deeper spiritual truth: hope can shine where pain has existed.

Students were also asked to reflect on a place where they feel peace. Each student incorporated a personal “place of peace” into the base of the sculpture, grounding the project not only in symbolism but in their own lived experience.

Revealing What Was Beneath

The pastel project reinforced the same message through a different medium. Students first created bright, colorful landscapes. Then, during the theme “I Am Broken,” they covered the entire surface with black pastel.

The next day, during “I Am Restored,” students scratched through the black layer to reveal the color beneath. The group also offered their opened dirty hands covered in black pastel as a symbol of giving God their struggles as we prayed together.

Light and color did not come from somewhere else. They had been there all along—waiting to be uncovered.

This is what makes I AM ART distinct. Spiritual reflection and creative practice are brought together so students can experience truth, not just hear about it.

By the end of the week, students had created meaningful artwork. But more importantly, they left with a deeper understanding that their lives—like their art—can hold pain, beauty, honesty, and hope all at once.