Hope is a creative force.
Following spirit and serving humanity as her guides, Hope has walked many paths flowing from the same source.
Hands in the dirt, beating drumskin, brushing color across canvas, holding a newborn babe, or gathering the tribe; Hope thrives when steeped in raw, fresh energy pulsing around her. She is a visionary who sees the positive direction she wants the world to move toward, and takes the steps she can to manifest it.
Following spirit and serving humanity as her guides, Hope has walked many paths flowing from the same source.
Hands in the dirt, beating drumskin, brushing color across canvas, holding a newborn babe, or gathering the tribe; Hope thrives when steeped in raw, fresh energy pulsing around her. She is a visionary who sees the positive direction she wants the world to move toward, and takes the steps she can to manifest it.
Hope was inspired to co-create MAnaFest music, arts & education festival in Hawaii in 2015, after the birth of her daughter, to respond to her life shifting from touring full time with Nahko and to create more opportunities for women to be heard on a larger platform. After performing for years with Medicine for the People, Hope realized it is rare for women's voices to be equally heard in festivals, and that to move towards that balance benefits everyone. Women's voices hold an important frequency to our cultural healing. Hope is committed to helping women find their voice and share it!
MAnaFest is a festival that honors the sacred feminine; it is run by women, featuring over 25 female performers, 25 workshops led by women, 5 female live artists, dancers, ceremony, red tent, grandmothers council and more- all on the beautiful grounds of tropical permaculture retreat center and spa! The festival has continued to grow, creating paid work opportunities for 60-75 women per year. MAnaFest is inclusive of all people, everyone is welcome. There is a grandfathers council and purple tent to honor men and gender fluid community. 2020 Clear Vision is the theme of this upcoming 5th annual MAnaFest Jan 24, 25 & 26 - Join us! (MAnaFestival.org) |
Hope's Musical Journey continues forward! She has recorded 3 solo albums, Bring to Light, Purify, and Back to the Mother. Her sound has continued to evolve and has been described as "A Sensual Hip-notic journey of World beats infused with Maternal Soul."
Recently, when Hope evacuated Hawaii in the 2018 lava flow, she temporarily relocated to the Blue Ridge Mountains where Hope met Robin and Aradhana. She recognized a shared musical resonance which galvanized a collaboration that evolved into CedarWing. Their combined skill was electric! Drawing from their diverse backgrounds and experience in folk, soul, hip-hop, and world rock music, these ladies synergized a fresh sonic experience. Cedarwing is a soulful trio of talented women with an inspiring frequency woven through tapestries of beautiful harmonies, rich melodies, sophisticated strings including banjo, ukulele and guitar, and a world percussion groove featuring bajo cajon creating a sound they call 'world soul folk with a groove'. CedarWing recently recorded their first album which has not yet been released! ...wait for it, seriously, it's worth it!! |
Before that, Hope was a midwife, assisting over 450 births. She practiced primarily holistic home and water births, in the U.S., Indonesia, and Africa, where Hope worked at a village birth center with the African Birth Collective. She is a graduate of the National College of Midwifery.. Protecting the next generation has always been sacred and close to her heart. Birth is the moment a fresh soul enters the world and a woman transforms though an extraordinary rite of passage to become a mother. Hope has always felt honored to spend endless hours by a woman's side in her most primal and powerful birthing moments. The humility and awe in holding a new human being in its first breaths have given Hope a deeper connection, compassion, and grounding in life. This has inspired her to work to raise awareness about families' birth options and the importance of their choices. Hope created Artemis Healing Arts education program and taught 'Rhythm & Birth' natural birth classes in Peru, Brazil, Bali and US and in 2016 she was featured at the Healthy Earth Healthy Birth Conference Findhorn Ecovillage, in Scotland.
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The drum has always been a tool of spirit for Hope. She has been drumming for over twenty years. Her first teacher was Babatunde Olatunje, who encouraged her to keep playing, and to always play with love. Drums have taken her around the world; Hope studied with teachers in Brazil, Peru, and West Africa. She shared the drum with children in India and taught rhythm to youth groups in Guatemala. Hope has taught over 2,500 students of all ages; she uses drums to facilitate empowering women's voices in workshops and confidence building with at-risk youth groups. She is honored to channel the mystical sonic fusion created when using indigenous instruments on a modern stage. Drums are a powerful connection to our ancestors. As ancient healers have always known, when infused with positive vibrations & intentions, drums are potent medicine.
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Touring internationally and playing drums with Nahko and Medicine for the People since they were first heard of, Hope and Nahko shared a chemistry and frequency which catalyzed Medicine for the People to catapult from busking in the streets to performing in front of well over a hundred thousand people in a few short years. Nahko's music has a message that served as a call to the global conscious community for justice, truth talking, and positive social change. Together, they activated a very special movement. Their music brought people together who were healing and wanting to make the world better.
From the day they met around a campfire, in 2007, Hope played by Nahko's side across the US, to Bali, to Australia, to Jamaica an beyond until she was 6 months pregnant and it was time to make a change to prepare for her daughter. To Hope, that was the next step in her journey... |
Hope's connection to nature began as a child and continues to flourish. Hope co-founded an urban non-profit permaculture education project, Tryon Life Community Farm in Portland, OR. She coordinated their education program for years, teaching sustainability techniques such as natural building, permaculture gardening, social ecology, and the arts. Hope was invited by the global sustainability education organization, Berkana, to participate at an ecovillage education conference in Zimbabwe where she engaged in discussions with global activists. Hope also participated in the Global Peace Walk for 8 years in the southwest US. She later served for 3 years on the Board of Directors of Honor the Earth, the environmental justice non-profit protecting indigenous lands in North America, founded by Winona La Duke and supported by the Indigo Girls. Most recently, Hope has allied with the protectors of Mauna Kea, who currently have been standing in peaceful protest for months to prevent development on sacred indigenous land in Hawaii.
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Much of her artistic passion is expressed in rich color and paint. Painting since she was a child, Hope studied art at the university level, and has experimented with nearly every artistic medium she could get her hands on. As a result, many of her works incorporate poetry, stone, metal, feathers, pencil, marker, watercolor, acrylic, spray paint & mixed media to create textures of natural earth elements to tell the story of her journeys and create the magic and worlds seen through her dreams, travels, and visions. Hope often wields powerful bold swaths of color and delicate lines to tell a story of women's power, strength and beauty. Creating images of empowered women has been a life long devotion; in response to being raised in a world where women have not been treated fairly or equally to men, and the earth has been ravaged due to this imbalance between masculine and feminine forces.
Her newest works in progress include a series of large acrylic paintings on canvas (5ft.) and a miniature SpiritKeeper series of meditations and avatars in mixed media on paper (10" to 14"). Hope's art is currently shown at the beautiful Wild Heartist Gallery in downtown Hilo, Hawaii. |
Hope loves to teach and give back to her community. Join her- at one of her juicy upcoming workshops:
Raising Our Voices - 3 day music empowerment workshop
teaching alongside professional songstresses Mama Crow and Mary Isis, Jan 28, 29 & 30 (starting after MAnaFest)
Wild & Natural Birth - 5 day DONA certified doula training
co-facilitaed with Jesse Remer, international DONA certified trainer, Feb 19-23rd
Creative Spirit Art Journey - 4 day Spring Equinox immersion in the creative process
integrating ritual, art & community March 19-22.
Raising Our Voices - 3 day music empowerment workshop
teaching alongside professional songstresses Mama Crow and Mary Isis, Jan 28, 29 & 30 (starting after MAnaFest)
Wild & Natural Birth - 5 day DONA certified doula training
co-facilitaed with Jesse Remer, international DONA certified trainer, Feb 19-23rd
Creative Spirit Art Journey - 4 day Spring Equinox immersion in the creative process
integrating ritual, art & community March 19-22.
All three workshops will be on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Registration: go to Workshops at HopeMedford.com
Questions: hopemedford@gmail.com
Registration: go to Workshops at HopeMedford.com
Questions: hopemedford@gmail.com
From the article "Spreading Hope"
by Noah Fish of Face Forward,
a professional artist collective based in Minneapolis.
Face Forward is dedicated to humanity through art:
"The rare energy Hope drums with is rooted in the vitality she acquires from the world itself. She pulls inspiration from the spiritual places she's traveled along her journey, ranging from tribes in Africa to Indian Reservations in New Mexico. She is a hand percussionist, and performs playing the Afro-Peruvian box drum, called the Bajo Cajon, and the West African Djembe drum."
"Hope is the percussionist for Medicine For the People; a dynamic collaboration that began in 2008 when she and Nahko discovered a transcendent connection while playing music together around a campfire. Since then, Hope and Nahko have remained the innovative twofold of a band continuously adding new members and instruments. They began as an acoustic, single drum and horn ensemble and years later added an electric guitar and drum kit. I was blown away by the onstage energy the first time I saw them at Project Earth this summer. Nahko has a folklore-like voice that makes each song a story, which is fed by Hope’s thumping backdrop on the drums. Medicine For the People is unlike any other band I’ve seen live. Their energy is formed to make a vessel for the audience. It’s music for the people. Hey, Medicine For the People, I get it now."
Hope is a also a conservationist with an extraordinary resume that most recently includes serving on the board of directors for Honor the Earth, a Native-led environmental justice organization run by Winona LaDuke and the Indigo Girls. Winona LaDuke is one of the most prominent environmentalists of our time, and ran as Ralph Nader’s VP for two separate elections. Hope was added to the organization to use her art to promote conservation. She’s perfect for the position, as she credits the environment for her artistic capability."
"Hope’s artistic calling ignited with painting. |