So, where to begin …
I didn’t start blogging as soon as I had a studio as I hadn’t much to tell, then I didn’t start as I was looking for a “project” to wrap around what I was concentrating on … now my only excuse is I have too little time as I have so much going on….
This blog story really begins back last March when I was visiting Sucre, Bolivia on my year out after finishing my BA.
There I spent 6 or 7 weeks with my husband and many other travellers we had amassed along the way. We were learning more Spanish (a lot sadly I’ve forgotten because I’m not using it since returning home) and enjoying the city.
Bolivia is very poor and going through a lot of political turmoil at present. That said the people are lovely, friendly and not without ambition.
Anyway I digress. The basis of this project … Well there is an English writer (Philomena Winstanley) that I met who bases herself in the city of Sucre, and in her free time (it seems like a full time job from the outside) she runs a magazine (inti-revista.org). Philly produces this magazine with local adults, whom she is teaching all aspects of writing and publishing to.
The magazine itself is bi-lingual and contains stories, drawings and information about and by the local street children. These children normally work to help their families – doing jobs like shoe shining, stall vending, newspaper selling … some even resort to begging.
The aim of the magazine is to earn the children a little cash while educating them at the same time. They volunteer (at weekends) to sell the magazine, and similar to the Big Issue model, they get to keep half the money, whilst the other half goes into running costs of the next edition.
At present there is only enough money to produce the magazine every two months and a relatively small amount are printed. Philly would really love to print more and more often – getting more children involved. The end goal is to encourage the children to learn and value learning (school I believe is not compulsory or freely available as it is here in the UK).
Whilst there in Sucre, a group of us volunteered some time and money to take the children on a trip to a neighbouring village and out of this I came away with lots of photos. I then hatched a plan to return home, paint the children and try and raise some money for them.
This has somewhat evolved…
Rather than just tackle this by myself I put it to a few friends and before I knew it I had 14 fellow artists on board which is fantastic.
In the early stages – back in May this year – I evolved the idea of a reciprocal project. A few artists paint a portrait of a street child and with the help of Philly (the mastermind behind the magazine) we’d get the child in question to paint a portrait of the artist. Then with the two works paired up we’d hold an auction here in the UK and all money raised would go back to help the street children via the magazine.
Simple, right?
Well having never run a group art project before, never mind one spanning two countries (two continents even), involving an auction or raising money for a good cause, I’m a tad apprehensive as well as mega excited.
So, I thought I’d try and share it with you – the highs, the lows and everything in between.
Needless to say all and any advice and input will be greatly received.
