When in Doubt, PAINT!

Bisque-fired hearts, hand painted and varnished, August 2010

School starts again in just over a week, and all the staff there are hard at work getting everything ready. Part of that work is applying no less than seven layers of wax to the floors. As such, I don't really have access to the kiln to do glaze fires of the hearts. What to do?

There were only 2 little hearts and one ornament left at the museum when I went to visit last week! I searched my home-studio and found a small cache of bisque fired hearts. I thought I'd give it a go with just painting them to tide us over till I can get back to the kiln. I think they turned out pretty well. I used heavy duty polyurethane to varnish and protect them. After a day or so of curing-time, I was pretty convinced the paint wasn't going to get damaged, even with lots of handling.

We dropped the hearts off yesterday. It was then that Ted Frankel, the owner of The Sideshow gift shop of the American Visionary Arts Museum, informed me that he just sent a $500.00 check off to Art Creation Foundation for Children from sales of the hearts!!! Wahoooo!! I went straight home that night to start another small set of painted hearts. VERY soon, I will be back with the very generous, talented students of Patapsco Middle School, and we'll be able to fire up that kiln again!

New Heart Ornaments: How far does $5 go in Haiti?

photo credit: Emmanuel Midi, from "Haiti's New Demolition Business" on insidedisaster.com

(ceramic ornaments) hearts created by patapsco middle school students

Just yesterday, I dropped off more hearts to The Sideshow at The American Visionary Arts Museum. Included in yesterday's delivery were some much larger hearts that had been turned into whimsical hanging ornaments with wire, sequins, ribbon and cool beads and charms. We did this for the holiday season on '09, and they quickly sold for $5 each. I liked the metaphor of $5 being a typical weekly wage for the lowest paid adults in Haiti (and for 1/3 of the world's population.) However, I recently read an article published online by The Miami Herald that Haitian adults are being paid an average of $5 per day to help clean up from the earthquake.

Think about that for a minute....

Only five dollars for hours upon hours of backbreaking work in 100+ degree heat with no provisions of food or water or any guarantee of safety. Five months after the earthquake, the sheer quantity of concrete rubble is an enormous hurdle to reconstruction. There are precious few pieces of big, working construction equipment available. One estimate given by the Miami Herald is that there are 13 million cubic feet of rubble to deal with.

How does one deal with that?

Well, if you want to earn $5 per day, you pick up a sledgehammer, break up bigger pieces of concrete into smaller pieces of concrete, load them by hand--no gloves--in the hot sun onto the back of a regular pick up truck, then repeat ad infinitum. Add to that the reality that human remains--lost loved ones, men, women, children, citizens of Haiti--are still slowly being found via this process--and that of course, everything must stop to tend to such sad discoveries (unfortunately often this protocol doesn't even take place)---and one is left realizing that estimates of over a decade just to dig out if current procedure continues start to seem very realistic. Get an inside look here.

So it is with respect to the survivors of the quake who are toiling in this way that we decided to offer the ornaments again. It feels so small sometimes, but there is so much heart behind what the students in Maryland have been doing to try to help.

As always, absolutely 100% of the proceeds go to Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel, Haiti.

Thinking of Jacmel. Grateful for my home.....

Jump Rope in Jacmel, Haiti. Photo Credit: Judy Hoffamn www.artforhaitianchildren.org

Photo Credit: Judy Hoffamn www.artforhaitianchildren.org

Home. Jacmel, Haiti. Photo Credit: Judy Hoffman, founder of ACFFC. www.artforhaitianchildren.org

The Home of one of the Students from Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel, Haiti. Photo Credit: Judy Hoffman, founder of ACFFC. www.artforhaitianchildren.org

Good Morning Everyone. In my little corner of the world this morning, I am very aware of the gratitude I feel for my safe neighborhood, my employment, the new shoots in the the veggie garden and the beautiful sunny sky and cool breeze outside. My Gratitude was only deepened when I looked at some poignant photos this morning that were taken by Judy Hoffman on her phone when she was visiting Jacmel, Haiti recently to spend time with her beloved students (family!!) at Art Creation Foundation For Children. These pictures speak louder that anything I could think to write today.....Please scroll back up and take the time to really look at at them.

Did you look??

Want to help???

Visit www.artforhaitianchildren.org and click the yellow Just Give box on the left hand side. It is an absolutely secure donation. $10 = more than one week's pay for someone working full time in Haiti (and you can bet their "full time" is more than 40 hours a week...)

If you are in the Baltimore area, pay a visit to the American Visionary Arts Museum (www.avam.org) where you can purchase the ceramic Hearts for Haiti made by the Patapsco Middle School art students for only $1.00 each! Visit www.sideshowbaltimore.com to buy an original Haitian Drapo (sequined flag) and 100% of the proceeds will go back to rebuilding the arts communities in Haiti!

Wishing you gratitude for the many good things in your life today!