Help 'n' Hands
San Gabriel Valley Tribune (West Covina, CA) - July 25, 2007
Author/Byline: Christina L. Esparza , Staff Writer
Section: Local

MONROVIA — Julie Fish often finds herself outlining the traces of her son Lance's tiny hand etched in clay.

The 2-and-a-half year old pressed down on the wet slab many months ago during one of his many trips to Paint 'N' Play in Old Town Monrovia, where he painted on skateboards and ran up and down the room reserved especially for him.

With hundreds of photographs and a million memories of the toddler, the handprint is a cherished item that holds him close to Fish's heart. Not long after he created it, Lance succumbed to cancer.

"I don't know how to express how much our son Lance's handprint plaque means to us," she said. "His plaque is a beautiful symbolic impression we physically have to honor and memorialize his recent sudden passing."

Lance was one of about 75 City of Hope patients who created a legacy handprint at Paint 'N' Play free of charge.

The sisters who own the studio, Lisa Barrios and Rachel Quimayousie, have been running the Hold 'N' Hands, Help 'N' Hearts project for about five years.

It started as a favor for an employee in the neuro-oncology department at City of Hope and from then on blossomed.

"It helps the heart, and sometimes the heart helps the healing," Barrios said.

Of the roughly 75 patients who participated in the legacy project, two have died, Barrios said. Although they have created so many pieces, each one is made with special care by Quimayousie, a talented ceramic artist who incorporates the patient's favorite colors and hobbies.

For instance, Lance's plaque is decorated with a choo-choo train — his favorite thing in the whole world.

And the process is fun, too.

"Oh boy, Lance loved Rachel swishing his hands in the clay," Fish said. "What little child doesn't like getting to be creative and a little messy?"

While always fun to create, the process can tug at the heartstrings.

"It's hard sometimes because you know they may be succumbing to this," Quimayousie said with a trembling voice and watery eyes.

The pressure is intense for the sisters, since they have to twice heat the handprints in a 2,000-degree kiln. Ceramic pieces can sometimes crack and explode.

Normally, it's an easy fix; the child is called in to do another one. In the case of cancer patients, though, that can't always be possible.

But Barrios said not one legacy piece has been damaged in the kiln.

The legacy plaques are not reserved for children. City of Hope patients of all ages are welcome to one. The most recent piece is from a 75-year-old woman who just hours before underwent a blood transfusion.

The project is paid for by donations, or, as Barrios said, "pennies from heaven." She looked into creating a nonprofit foundation, but quickly learned it would be a lot more expensive than to put all donations into clay and supplies.

Despite the donations, or lack thereof, Barrios said she and her sister agreed to keep the program running, even if the money comes out of their own pockets.

After all, the look on the patients' and their families' faces are priceless.

"When it's handed over to a patient, you could almost hear angels singing," Barrios said.

For information on Help 'N' Hands, Heal 'N' Hearts call (626) 256-4848.

christina. esparza @sgvn.com

Sisters extend kindness through Paint 'n' Play
San Gabriel Valley Tribune (West Covina, CA) - January 25, 2008
Author/Byline: Audrey Reed, Staff Writer
Section: Business

MONROVIA - When sisters and dental practice managers Lisa Barrios and Rachel Quimayousie took over Paint ' n ' Play six years ago, they thought they'd left the medical profession.

But about a year into their co-ownership, they began a program that serves patients - some of whom are terminally ill - in a completely different way.

The studio, which offers workshops, birthday parties and individual craft sessions, also makes hand imprints for patients with cancer, leukemia and other serious illnesses.

The hand prints began when a representative for the City of Hope medial center asked for one for a patient.

"When the City of Hope calls," Barrios said, "you step up to the plate."

The service, called Hold ' n ' Hands, Help ' n ' Hearts, has snowballed from there. The sisters now make imprints for all ages at no charge to the patient.

"I've (made hand impressions) before at the hospital," Quimayousie said. "It's hard. You can see that they aren't in good health, sometimes they are wearing masks. And you can see the stress the family is in."

Quimayousie takes the hand impression, fires it in the kiln and then adds personalized decorations to the imprint.

"What makes the impressions so special is that they serve as a legacy piece," Barrios said.

Quimayousie said that she and her sister have no experience with cancer in their family.

"This has just come up as a need," she said.

The pair, who both live in Cypress, took over the business six years ago in Sierra Madre. The former owners are friends of the sisters and thought they would be a perfect fit with Quimayousie's artistic background and Barrios' administrative experience.

"They offered it to us, and we agreed to it short term," Barrios said.

Soon after they took over, they were informed their lease was up and they'd have to move.

"That's when we knew we were jumping in with both feet," Barrios said. "Everyone said we should look into Old Town Monrovia."

The sisters said they couldn't have made a better choice.

"From the first day when I was here by myself sweeping the floor, people were coming by to talk," Quimayousie said. "We've never had that."

The sisters have expanded the business from statuary painting to include things like ceramics, a potter's wheel and an art gallery filled with local artists' work.

"It's just multiplied," Barrios said.

Being in the ceramic industry has changed a lot over the years.

"Ceramics can be an import business," Barrios said. "But we use all American products."

For example, Paint ' n ' Play buys from Laguna Clay Co., which has a manufacturing facility in Industry.

Quimayousie and Barrios said that the craft's nostalgia and customers' artistic passion attracts people to Paint ' n ' Play .

Barrios said that funding for the hand prints comes from a variety of places, most recently the non-profit Spa 3 Council, which donated $1,000.

One of the most touching moments the sisters have experienced through of the Hold ' n ' Hand project came about a year ago when they attended the funeral of a regular who was being treated at City of Hope. Outside of his mother and City of Hope doctors and staff, the sisters were the only people in attendance at the two-year-old's service.

"When we walked into the wake, they were playing a slide show of him playing in our studio," Barrios said. "I just lost it."

Barrios said that while she had no idea how difficult these experiences would be, she and her sister are glad to provide the service.

"Rewarding isn't even the right word. It's more than that," Barrios said.

Paint ' n ' Play is located at 418 S. Myrtle Ave. in Monrovia. For more information, call (626) 256-4848 or visit www.paintnplay2.com.

audrey.reed@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2230

A new approach to a longtime student project
Pasadena Star-News (CA) - February 17, 2008
Author/Byline: Caroline An , Staff Writer
Section: News

MONROVIA - For schoolchildren, creating a model of a California mission usually involves hundreds of sugar cubes, hours of patience and help from an adult.

But fourth-graders at St. Rita Elementary School found another creative way to illustrate the beauty of the historic missions.

At the Paint 'n' Play studio in Monrovia this past week, 26 of teacher Brooke Tarne's students retraced mission images onto ceramic tiles, then painted them.

"It allows them to do something more artistic, in addition to doing written work," said Tarne.

Studying California's history is a requirement in the fourth-grade, and an important part of that is learning about the state's 21 missions.

Once completed, the mission tiles will be displayed at St. Rita's Back to School Night next month, school officials said.

For Amy Regali, 9, tracing Mission San Juan Capistrano was "a lot of fun."

"This mission is really pretty," she said.

Classmate Lexi Dyer, who chose Mission San Juan Capistrano to recreate in tile form, agreed that the mission was really pretty and said she would probably paint it "brown, yellow and white."

She said she hopes to see the mission in real life one day.

Brendan Love, 10, said his mother is an artist. "I don't think it's girly to paint," he said.

Paint 'n' Play studio owner Lisa Barrios said she often has local schoolchildren visiting her facility, as part of a the studio's partnership with the Monrovia Arts Festival Foundation. Adult residents and seniors also participate in painting classes there.

caroline.an @sgvn.com

(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4494