Creative Upcycling and Entrepreneurship
Laura Hernandez, a Santa Monica resident since 2008, sees potential where others might see waste.
During the pandemic, Laura, a mother of three, felt the urge to create. She’d always enjoyed adding flair and flourishes when she could, but the need to express herself through something tangible became too loud to ignore. Unable to afford art store materials, she used old cardboard as makeshift canvases and transformed empty cans into vases, pencil cups, and candlesticks to brighten up her living space. “Recycling isn’t just about reducing waste,” she explains. “It’s about giving something that was once useless another purpose, and from that, creating something that gives the maker, and hopefully others, joy.”
She taught herself paper mâché—a technique that allowed her to transform discarded newspapers into colorful, sculptural creations. The process inspired her: something discarded could be molded around air, given new life.
What started as a small hobby soon became a larger passion, and through the support of a Santa Monica wellbeing micro-grant in 2023, she taught art classes using the same everyday materials and connected to a broader audience.
Poised to sell her candles and sculptures at Pico Roots, a community art space for vendors, the organization paused operations just as the grant ended. Positioned in front of Santa Monica College, the organization will hopefully re-open soon and serve as a place Laura and other lower income creators can showcase and sell their art.
As much as she’s grateful for the support she received, Laura felt a bit adrift in terms of next steps. She craved further mentorship to scale up her teaching and selling business.
Enter Instagram. Laura started sharing her pieces and is building a following through her page, lh.amoralarte. More than just a business, she’s carving out a place where people who have felt invisible and disempowered discover new possibilities of being and doing. Her goal is to make enough to share booths with other vendors at farmers markets around the city and to expand her teaching.
Her connection to the community extends far beyond just selling art. Laura has always had a deep appreciation for the multigenerational aspect of community life, especially in Santa Monica, a city that blends old and new with a unique vibrancy. One of her most cherished projects is to facilitate art events at kids’ birthday parties, reunions, and activities where families come together to celebrate. These activities could involve making piñatas or even, someday, candles (we giggled about how much fun having one’s own Bunsen burner would be). Leaving the pyrotechnics aside, these are opportunities to share experiences, to learn, and to build relationships across generations. “I want to help people to create moments where everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, can engage,” Laura says.
Recently, Gabriela Avila, staff member at the Community Corps of Santa Monica, offered Laura the chance to work with children in a two-day workshop. “The first day, the kids would make their creations, and on the second day, they would decorate them,” Laura recalls. These classes weren’t just about crafting, but a way to teach kids the importance of patience, creativity, and collaboration. They learned how to turn simple materials into art, but also how to work together to make something greater than the sum of its parts. If they were initially curious about the choice of materials, the magic quickly emerged.
Through art, community engagement, and a passion for recycling, Laura continues to prove that beauty can emerge from the most unlikely places. Her work is a testament to the transformative power of creativity—and to the idea that, when we come together, we can turn the everyday into art, not just in art, but in life itself.
At Coffee & Connections this Friday, October 10th, Laura will be leading an activity to create decorations for Día de los Muertos.
Jessica Cole