August 23, 2011December 7, 2011

(no name) Art Group 2011 Grant

Start Date: July 15, 2011
Last Updated: December 7, 2011

GOAL: $2,500

Amount Raised: $2,515

Thank you to all our supporters!

The (no name) Art Group Grant was created to award a (no name) artist with funds to pursue or support a creative artistic endeavor. Help us choose by casting your vote here.

Would you like to make a general contribution to the group? You can select from the following:

(CHECKS/CASH donations accepted, contact us for details)

Bronze Sponsor – $10

Silver Sponsor – $20

Gold Sponsor – $50

Angel Sponsor – $100

(Please note donations are not tax deductible)

[HR] Thank You To Our Sponsors!

Angel Sponsors:

Sherry Berger
William Berger Jr
Heather Bryson
Evangeline & Chuck Bragitikos
Letitia Cheatham
Aurora Deshauteurs +
Jim Kane
Karen Leonard
Stoyan Stoyanov
Eng Wong

Gold Sponsors:

Michael Andino
Srijana Angdembey
William & Margaret Berger
Romy Burkus
Dee Collins
Lauren Conrad
Sarah Gibbs
Sean Gilligan
Janie Gross (in support of Cathey White)
Anne Hess
Debby Larkin
Linda Mehnert
Amber Muhammed
Corina St. Martin
Sandra Webberking

Silver Sponsors:

Emilia Apostolova
Rita Ball
e Bond
Shannon Boutilier
Crusoeden Body
Lysandra Cheatham
Doris Chorney
Corinda Cook
Marilynn Cook
Carol Coster
Kate Garchinsky
Marie Gilligan
Christina Hess ($30)
Kenneth Hess
Amy Lehr
Jessica Mendez
Ellen Morrison
Nikolay Panchev
Timothy Prough
Lisa Reynolds
Angela Smith
Matthew Stuart
Nora Quinn
Marianne Schilling (in support of Cathey White)
Lou Schonder
Cathey White

Bronze Sponsors:

Joseph Handlon
Leslie Hanlon
Jane Kim
Jacqueline Lefranc
Jeff McCloskey
Anastasia Nacheva/Cvetan Nachev
Bill Ng
Anne Seidman
Marianne Schilling
Kathleen Sheerer (In support of Amy Lehr Miller on behalf of her nephews: Isaac and Blaine Sheerer)
Corina St. Martin
Janet Valentine

in Latest

August 16, 2011

Join Together Now.

family, cluster, collective, club, congregation, fraternity, circle, association, committee, community, support system, tribe.
There are a million words for a group of like minded individuals in pursuit of a common goal. There are a million small ways these kinds of groups can effect change. Groups become effective because they call on the collective best of the individuals within it. Strength in numbers, right?

There is an old Kenyan proverb that says, “sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” This week on the inspiration blog, I thought I would highlight some sites that are allowing groups the opportunity to make a difference by standing together behind someone, something, or some great idea. Some of these sites aim to end poverty one person at a time, others simply aim to help people realize a goal by allowing others a way to offer a hand. At times it is a loan, other times it is a gift, but no matter how the money is given, these sites have found ways to connect people across the world and make good stuff happen.

So, let’s talk crowd funding shall we? Crowd funding is just a fancy way of doing what communities and families have been doing for years. You know, raising barns, getting kids through college, harvesting crops, feeding people who need it, just pitching in when pitching in needs to be done. I mean in my family alone, it took three people paying just to get me through art school, that’s crowd funding on a micro level but it worked. So now imagine the whole world in on this idea, and using the internet to invite folks to the party.

Crowd funding sites are the virtual spaces that get groups of folks together to collectively pool their money in support of common goals. There are are a few really aimed at making crowd funding easy for both borrower/recipient and lender/donor.

Sometimes all we need is a little help for a short amount of time. $25 can go a long way….Enter Kiva and their creative use of microfinance concepts and theories explored and thankfully shared with the world by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammed Yunus. Kiva is a “non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.”

sidenote: If you like what Kiva does, check out Women for Women International. They’ve been kicking ass and changing womens lives for years now using a one on one system of pairing up women who sponsor other women for roughly $30 a month.

Kickstarter is another kind of funding platform. It isn’t about ending poverty, instead it’s about funding creativity for artists, designers, filmmakers, basically anyone with a good idea in need of financing. It’s a new way to “fund and follow creativity.” Anyone can use kickstarter, check it out!

Profounder is another online tool started by the founders of Kiva more along the lines of Kickstarter. It aims to make the lending and borrowing process easier and more clear for all parties involved.

For more information about the birth of Kiva, and ultimately profounder, check out this TEDtalk. Jessica Jackley: Poverty, money — and love

Also, want to know more about microfinance? or Muhammed Yunus?

in Blog

July 29, 2011December 6, 2013

They Dream It Up. They Allow You To Find Them.

(Blog by T. J. Prough)

The greatest escape is the daydream. You are conscious. You are lucid. And yet your subconscious mind pulls up in the form of a train and offers to take you on an excursion for some abstract amount of time. I often daydream. And on some occasions, I travel incredible distances to unreal places; along with my life’s future ambitions and past experiences. They tend to manifest into a visual drama that plays out before me. I am a spectator and I am also a participant. It’s hard to describe how one can be a witness and a subject of a dream at the same time, but this is what the vision usually demands of me. So I relent.

I receive in the mail a letter from UNICEF. They ask me
to donate to their organization to help the children of Darfur who are still struggling for survival. UNICEF is the last organization tolerated by the Sudanese government to provide aid to its citizens. It’s quite difficult to imagine the realities of living in such a place where survival is priority over all else. Where is the food coming from? What medicines are available? Will there be more? The questions float about like vultures with a crooked eye toward the origin of these inquiries. How many children will make it through the night? Do they have time for daydreams; that alternate dimension where story and imagery take shape in forms of allegory or symbolism? The numbers of hungry questions grow into a chaotic venue. A ragged croak begins a chorus of throaty responses. I start to run. It’s maddening. It’s hot. So I relent.

There is a whisper, light and haunting, off to some direction of whatever temporary reality this is now. I am simply seduced to follow it along it’s weaving waves of beauty. The air is cooler and the chorus of clamoring noises fades away to reveal that the whisper is a river. Beautiful and wide, the waters open to me. A horse drinks from its edge. “There is something for you on the other side,” he whinnies. Something for me, I ponder? What could be for me in such a desolate and unyielding place? So many questions. No more. The questions will threaten to return and swoop down on me if I ask any more. “Climb up and I will take you,” he snorts, “I will take you to her.” I move through the water and climb upon the horse’s back. The wind is fierce. Such speed. I am blessed, I think to myself. “You have no idea,” he whinnies back to me. He is right. I have no idea. So I relent.

With the hungry questions long gone and the whispering river far behind us, the horse slows to a trot and then to a stop. I look ahead and see wire and dust. There is a rudimentary gate that hangs partially open. A woman approaches and greets us. “Welcome,” she says. The horse replies, “I’ve brought you someone. Someone who can help.” I look around and realize the steed is referring to me. How can I help, I muse. Inside my head a voice answers my question. It is the woman. “I am glad you asked. So few do ask us the question ‘How can I help?’. It is such a simple question.” I didn’t mean it that way, I thought. Who is this woman? “I am the Queen,” she replied. Such a dusty and lowly garb she is wearing.
But her demure, her posture – so elegant and so unassuming – command my attention and humble my doubt. She is royalty, I thought. She wears a crown of compassion upon her head.

Observing past her, I notice the rustling people beyond the fence have been watching us. They have an innocent curiosity. They have a truth in their eyes. And it is in their eyes that I find the answer to the last question. How can I help? I can help because they have enabled me to
find them. The Queen and the horse walk with me for while. We are silent, yet we understand everything now. This place. This train ride of a dream. We return to the circling cackle of questions, the nagging vultures who fix their eyes upon us once more. The Queen turns to them and sighs. With one wave of her hand, she shoos them away and turns to me. “I am glad you have found us,” she smiles. “You will find us again for we are everywhere.” I didn’t ask another question. I turned and drifted away from all I have witnessed – the Queen, the dust, the wire, the river and the questions. Just before the everything was becoming clear, I hear the faint whinny of the horse. “See you again.”

Out of a haze and out of the daydream, I find myself returning to the letter I had received in the mail. The children of Darfur need a pledge. They need an amount. They need support.

And so I relent.

___________________

The above art pieces that inspired this daydream entry (quite literally) are from the Sudan Artists Gallery. You can see more work by Sudanese artists in the “Collection” and “Artists” sections on their website. They are all former children of Darfur, and they make wonderful creations that are shown around the world. They make wonderful daydreams. And they create a way for you to find them.

in Blog

July 15, 2011August 21, 2011

Got 5 Minutes & $10 Bucks?

So here I am branding away our group’s mission statement throughout the virtual world, over and over again I’m reading– Using art to promote positive change in ourselves, in our local community and in our world. Yup, that sums it up, and I like it…but it had really got me thinkin’.

We’ve been spending lots of energy focusing on how we as artists could make a difference in the world, but this was not why I originally started the group. It was first initiated to encourage artists to make art to be inspired, creative, expressive, to use their imagination and to HAVE FUN (as stated in the How’d This Happen). The group was not attached to any philanthropic cause, I just wanted the talented artists around me to not lose being artists, an easy thing to happen once you hit the “real world”, you know, like by first grade. These past years our artists have created art, promoted and even paid for exhibition costs out of their own pocket, and never asked for anything in return. So how about now we do something just for them? What if someone gives them a hand?

Thus said, I’ve decided it’s time the group gives back to itself, I am initiating a (no name) Art Group Grant! Funded by us, for us. The purpose of this grant will be to award a (no name) artist with funds to pursue or support a creative artistic endeavor. This can include anything from advancing an art education to purchasing graphic design software. It doesn’t matter, as long as it helps to keep artists being creative, inspired and excited (whether for themselves or their career). That’s what we’re after. The artist will be chosen based on the results of both an online public contest and (no name) Art Group jurors.

“We are all born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as one grows up”
~ Pablo Picasso

Um, and so how exactly are we raising these funds?

Now, I think this idea of a grant is great. However the next step is to figure out how the funds could be provided. As you may or may not know, I’m far from rich (at least not in the cash terms!), so I can not personally fund this entire grant. The group has always had the most success not by requesting large corporations or sponsors for large amounts of money, but by requesting small amounts from a lot every day people. By getting many people to donate just a little…we can raise a lot. And this, as we all know, can make a difference.

Would you please consider joining me in making a donation to the (no name) Art Group Grant?

I know we are all busy, so I’ll keep it simple. I’m asking for just 5 minutes and $10 (or more if you’re inclined!) Each donor will be an official (no name) Art Group sponsor, and your name will be permanently and forever and ever featured on our website.

You can select from the following:

Bronze Sponsor – $10

Silver Sponsor – $20

Gold Sponsor – $50

Angel Sponsor – $100

Please note donations are not tax deductible*

I have over 250 contacts on our member/supporter email list, so if everyone on our list donates a minimum of $10, we will have a significant grant amount of $2,500. Please consider making a donation, and pass it along to anyone you know supporting our group. That’s all we’re asking, for 5 minutes and $10 bucks.

Can you help us out?

[HR]

Participating Artists:

e Bond
Corinda Cook
Kate Garchinsky
Marie Gilligan
Christina Hess
Natalie Italiano
Amy Lehr Miller
Corina St. Martin
Karen Shelly-Genter
Cathey White

Current fundraising progress and sponsor list link

*Please note we are NOT a registered non-profit (because we donate our proceeds to registered non-profits), therefore donations directly to the (no name) Art Group are not tax-deductible.

WOW , What else can I do in 5 minutes!?

in Blog

July 9, 2011September 19, 2016

Featured Artist: Jeff McCloskey

When I think of why I started the (no name) Art Group, Jeff McCloskey is one of the first artists to come to mind. I worked along side Jeffrey (as I think only I refer to him as) at KYW-TV in Philadelphia from 1996-2002. I was fascinated by his cluttered desk and love for Frank Zappa, and even more fascinated by the world of talent he encompassed under all that hair.

↑ secretly collected sketches from kyw

Focusing on the process rather than the end product, Jeff makes art for arts sake, and has fun doing it. At his work station Jeff surrounded himself with multicolored markers, pencils, pens, whimsical doodles, plastic bugs, rubber lizards, robots, coffee mugs, and about a million other unrelated random objects. It was like a crazy mad science lab with each item arranged in some kind of organized chaos that could only be deciphered by Jeffrey. You could find him working quietly in this little world, concentrating on his next masterpiece. It was this kind of pure energy I wanted the group to support, and it was artists like Jeffrey who I wanted to share with the world. I remember Jeffrey eagerly taking up the first project back in 1999, and he has gladly accepted every project since (with the exception of the Vietnamese portraits– a gals only project). Every piece of art he created was imaginative and experimental, varying in styles from traditional graphite to digital. And one more note that is not unnoticed, Jeffrey’s art always meets the deadline! (hint hint, other artists)

Jeff has recently illustrated his first children’s book. As a lover of animals “Not A Used Dog, At All” was a perfect fit, and the illustrations reflect Jeff’s love and care for life on our planet. All profits from this book will be donated to animal rescue and shelter groups. It is now sold online at Amazon.

I am honored to have such a great artist and person in our group. Jeff continues to support the group (and me!) not only with his art, but his positive attitude and encouraging words. Thank you Jeffrey!

Jeff’s Bio

Jeff McCloskey is an Emmy winning graphic designer and graduate of the Art Institute of Philadelphia, has been designing and animating graphics for television since 1986. He recently illustrated a children’s book about adopting shelter dogs called “Not a Used Dog, At All” for author and co-worker Carol Erickson. Jeff currently works and lives in Philadelphia with his wife Lori and their 2 dogs and 4 cats.

in Featured Artists