3659 – Bringing Hope

3659 – Bringing Hope

SOLD

 a portion of the sale went to Muskoka Grandmothers to Grandmothers

16 x 16 inches, Unframed

Acrylic & Mixed Media on canvas

Johnathan Bullock of Medieval Pottery, 210 First Street in Gravenhurst, Ontario designed 3 small pottery pieces (WISH, DREAM, HOPE) for the Muskoka Grandmothers to Grandmothers (an initiative of the Stephen Lewis Foundation) to be incorporated into artistic works and then sold as a fund raiser for the charity.

I selected HOPE, for this painting, because I hold onto the hope  that we, as humanity, can bring about the changes needed to heal the continent and the planet. By placing the pottery piece in the Sahara Desert, I wanted to communicate the mission of humanity to instill hope even in places where little or no life is apparent. I arranged eight Canadian pennies from Grandmothers to Grandmothers to flow like a river through Africa; they pour out of the HOPE I have for all life on the continent while the number represents prosperity and balance.

To create texture and movement, I used 3 different mediums, pumice gel for the sand, fibre paste for vegetation and smooth gel for the areas of higher elevations and ocean current. I brushed the pottery piece and the pennies with gold, the incorruptible metal, to stand for my hope that support going to Africa can avoid corruption. For the final step, I painted over the pennies incorporating them into the background of the painting and thus implying that the money is at work in the land.

In total, 27 unique pieces of pottery were integrated, by grandmothers and other artistic friends, into a collection that included jewellery, stained glass, basketry, fabric art and paintings. Each artwork also contained a signature  Canadian Penny, adding these items to Grandmothers’ growing Penny Tree Collection.

From June 2011 through 2014, Muskoka Grandmothers to Grandmothers had raised close to $20,000 from collection of pennies and from the sale of Penny Tree jewellery, notecards, fabric creations and other items. These fund raising events are ongoing.

Proceeds raised go to the work of the Stephen Lewis Foundation; 90 cents of every dollar directly supports grandmothers in Africa raising children orphaned by Aids.

The issues that plague Africa include disease and loss of human life, as well as devastation of agricultural land and extinction of many species unique to that region of the world. If we work together, we can bring the necessary skills and knowledge to bear on the problems and help Africa heal itself.