This Saturday, I have the honor of being resident artist for Gateway Academy's Gallery Fundraiser. Since this is my first presence in the greater Phoenix area, I'm twice as excited (and lucky) to be featured in the event. For those of you who want to participate in buying art and raising funds, but aren't in the area, don't fret. I will be posting the art on the P3 web site. Originals and limited edition prints will be available for a week following the show. So, if you have someone in mind for a great gift this holiday season, consider purchasing an original or print, and feel good knowing your purchase will be helping children with Autism. Visit Gateway Academy's website for more information on their groundbreaking school. Here's a clip from the invitation, for further details. Please Join Gateway Academy At the Deer Valley Rock Art Center for an evening of Petroglyphs and PuPu’s! Wine, Hors d’oeuvres, entertainment, wine raffle, and Petroglyph tours are part of this wonderful evening! A Silent Art Auction is the focus of our event with works by Gateway Academy Students, as well as our new artist in residence, Rebecca Peragrine, whose artwork is world renowned for her use of recycled materials. Rebecca has included student’s poems, short stories, and haiku’s into her wonderful works of art. Your purchase will support the Faces of Autism Scholarship Fund, which assists families in providing an appropriate educational environment for their children on the autism spectrum. 100% of all monies raised will be donated to The Faces of Autism Scholarship Fund. Date: Saturday, October 24th, 2009 Time: 4-7pm Place: Deer Valley Rock Art Center 3711 W. Deer Valley Road Phoenix, AZ 85308
My friends over at PEACE have cleverly put together an amazing yoga retreat/volunteer week. You can spend the week zenning out in front of the ocean, be hand fed the freshest most delicious regional foods AND you get to do your part for humankind by volunteering your time to help those in need. What a gift to yourself and others!! You can get more information here at peacemexico.org. 
Social and economic injustice is everywhere, there's no debating that. But, have you ever seen a place where you can jump from one side of the economic spectrum (oh, let's say a Four Seasons patron), to the complete opposite (we're talking homes with no sanitary system or running water), within a the distance of no less than 50 yards? Welcome to Punta de Mita, Mexico. Here are a couple pics to help you understand.
 Four Seasons Hotel, Punta de Mita, Mexico
Also Punta de Mita, no more than 100 yards away from the Four Seasons Hotel Entrance.
This is the location of our Recycled Park Project, a partnership between Print Pattern Paper and PEACE. Our mission is to raise enough funds ($10,000 USD to be exact) to create a recycled park for the community of Punta De Mita, Mexico. This is the area the PEACE and Art and Philanthropy were both founded and we are determined to give a little joy to the kids in this area. (PEACE also does incredible work on a number of levels for the community including providing immediate need assistance. This particular project, however, is all about infusing joy in a child's life). Here are a few pics of what they have now in their school yard.   (Rusted pipe in the school yard)
And here are some pictures of past recycled park projects. Truly awesome. 
Throughout the fall, we are hosting a number of gallery events where I will donate my originals and limited edition reproductions to raise funds for the event. We are confident the money can and will be raised by Christmas, and the event will take place in January. So stay tuned! And contact me for more details if you're interested in being a part of the giving!
Oh, the time went by soooo quickly! I have a lot to tell you all about my trip to Bahia de Banderas, Mexico. Lot's of great, hopeful and inspring stories, and of course, some rantings of social injustices and the like....all which fuel the little Art and Philanthropy engine. First, we'll start with the women's co-op. PEACE opened a retail store in Punta de Mita, where the co-op handicraft items are for sale to the tourist population. There was already a kiosk in the Puerto Vallarta airport, and let me tell you, I felt pretty special seeing my artwork images plastered all over the women's products in the international airport! 
So, this is the shop, with all the great handcraft items make by Manos Unidas por la Mujer women's cooperative. A phenomenal group of women, to say the least.
Here are some recycled tote bags the ladies created using feed bags...and my Guadalupe and Sirena images. 
Beautiful altars with my Milagros, and recycled newspaper baskets made by hand, of course.
The ladies even created baby bibs out of my designs. I was thoroughly impressed! So, that was so great to see the development of the women's products and their overall organization. They have really come a long way! In the upcoming days, I will post about my experience seeing a Recycled Park first hand, the partnership Print Pattern Paper will be taking on with PEACE to implement the project and other tidbits of valuable info!!!
Tomorrow morning I will be taking a short work trip to Bucerias, MX. I'm about to embark on some really fantastic philanthropic projects for Print Pattern Paper and PEACE (a great organization I work with and always talk about). First, I will be working with founder (and great friend), Molly Fisher to plan out first Community Recycled Park, a safe, innovative play area for kids in underdeveloped areas of the Jalisco/Nayarit area. Recicla Parque, (recycled park) is unique because it is a park built almost entirely
from recycled materials. Glass bottles, Plastic bottles, drainage
pipes, old fencing, tires, broken boats, fishing nets, bank posts,
compressed earth, shopping carts, old signs and broken tiles are
gathered together and given new life in the form of a safe, beautiful
playground for the community's children. You can see a video clip here of a park recently built in neighboring Punta Mita. The second reason for the trip is to work with PEACE to brainstorm ideas for a childrens book series dedicated to educating kids about the importance of environmental stewardship. PEACE and Print Pattern Paper are a perfect fit for this, as this is their core purpose as an organization, and its always been Print Pattern Paper's message throughout all our artwork. We both believe that if you can inspire children, you can change the world.
Two strange things happened to me today. First, I was catching up on a blog I like, and the author was talking about how great it is to accidentally come across a picture of someone using her artwork in a a home decor picture. So, I took a look thinking, "Oh, that would be nice....." and wouldn't you know it, next to her art was MY art....my peacock print! Nice.
 Then, to add to that, we got home from a "forced" weekend away, as in a long trip back up to my parent's cabin to look for the car keys my husband swore were left there from our last trip the weekend before. Normally a new key made wouldn't be a problem, but to those who drive a Saab, you know otherwise. And wouldn't you know it- the keys weren't there. We returned home to find out to my very superstitious husband's horror that while we were gone, our water fountain stopped working. To the normal person, its no big deal. But to a crazy Italian, its just as bad as walking straight into the curse of the dreaded evil eye. So after a 4 hour trip, he got back in the car to buy another fountain. Immediately.
An hour later, and with a new fountain in tow, my husband was clearly more settled. And no joke, as soon as that thing was plugged in, and the water started bubbling, my son shouted from the entry way, "hey dad, are these your keys? I found them under the pile of shoes". No way.
My products had their debut today at Oompa and I'm sooo happy to say that four of my art pieces sold out in the first day!! This is a pretty big deal for me, and I could not be happier. Here's a pic.....gotta run. it's G's 6th birthday today!!!!
I know this is a bit off from my usual posts, but I LOVE coming across these mom calculators, you know, the ones that experts gauge the value of a mom's daily work. If you're a stay at home mom, it's so rewarding to see the value of your work, and maybe a bit frustrating seeing how much you'd make if only someone was paying you!!! By the way, I found this at Mom Central, a great resource for moms everywhere!
I'm eagerly awaiting the shipment of my new 18x24 posters, including the alphabet, number and world map designs!!! They are my biggest print yet, and the best value too! As always, they are made from 100% recycled fibers and soy ink and cleverly packaged in recycled and biodegradable materials. You can pre-order now for the posters, they ship mid-next week. And they won't last long!!!
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