Saturday, June 16, 2012

art for charity

Last month there were two opportunities that came up to donate artwork to a charity cause. Nothing like being motivated to do good by supporting those who are doing great things for others.

The United Way of the National Capital Area’s Shoebox Project invited anyone to create a decorated shoebox and fill it with basic needs that would be redistributed to the elderly, veterans and the homeless around the greater Washington region. Since I’d been into boxes lately, this seemed like an easy enough thing to do.

It was fun rummaging through my decorative papers again. I have to say that I didn’t labor over the choices of what papers go where as I normally would have. The process  was quite intuitive and random, and somehow it all worked.

I liked it so much at one point I thought about keeping it all for myself! But then every time I'd look at it I’d think, now that wasn’t very charitable, keeping that box. Sad but true. I handed it over.

Here it is finished, all bright and cheerful.


A close-up view of the inside.
Quite a patchwork going on here.



Here’s what I filled my shoebox with.
I consider chocolate a basic necessity.


 I decided to make another one, maybe
keep this one all to myself! Here I am in my new
studio with the tree top view.


The second art for charity project was for the Rochester Contemporary Art Center’s (RoCo) in Western New York State. I entered because I grew up in a little farming town south of Rochester, called Pavilion.

Earlier in the year I did a mark-making series exploring a handful of hay dipped in gouache. Some of the pieces in and of themselves didn’t work, but when I cut them in 2"x 2" squares and rearranged them on the panel, something interesting started to happen.

RoCo has a cool fundraiser, a “small art phenomenon,” in which anyone can enter to donate their work. All artwork must be 6"x 6" and is accepted, exhibited, and on sale for $20 to benefit RoCo. You can enter up to ten pieces. They received about 7,500 entries this year, including my three below (go to artwork number 3751, 3752, 3753).

This one sold!


This effect was achieved by pressing
gouache-dipped hay between two pieces of paper.


This imagery was left over from the “twirling”
series I did a few months ago.


Now that we’re on the other side of the move into our new house and I’m in my studio again, I’m slowly getting back into to making things — for others, or myself, or charity, sale, or a show, or just because.