Art for Good: a fundraiser to benefit Indigenous women and children / by Suzanne

Update: I’m happy to report we surpassed our goal and raised $7300 for Minwaashin Lodge. Thank you everyone who donated! The winners of the prints are Judy Faulkner, Ashley Wright, Denise Logan and Carla Campbell.

Nature’s beauty is the subject of four art prints created to be raffled off to benefit Indigenous women and children.

Once again, we invite you to donate to Minwaashin Lodge, the support centre in Ottawa that serves First Nations, Metis and Inuit women and children who are survivors of domestic and other forms of violence, and who may also be suffering the effects of the residential school system. 

The good work done at Minwaashin Lodge includes counselling, culture, employment, as well as children and family programs, and it has a 21-bed shelter for Indigenous women

The response to last year’s fundraiser was so encouraging we decided to do it again. Our goal was $5,000 but in the end we raised more than $6,000. So we upped our goal to $7000. I think we can do it!

Your donation, big or small, means you’re committed to a vision of Indigenous people thriving and willing to reach out to help an organization committed to that vision too.

Donate a $100 or more and your name is entered in a draw to receive one of four framed art prints. The campaign runs for two weeks, after which I draw four names. I can ship the prints anywhere!

Click here to make your donation to Minwaashin Lodge today and get entered for the draw!

If you live in Ottawa the prints will be on display at Bloomfields Flowers on Bank Street until the end of the campaign. Thanks Virginia and Jamie for the support!

Otherwise, here’s a look at the four art prints up for raffle:

Two of the pieces are enlarged canvas prints of my still-life photographs. They measure 20 X 30 inches and are in white wooden floater frames.

My sister Moira contributed two beautiful botanical prints.

One is a cyanotype or “sun print" of a fern, which she made using a 170-year-old photographic printing process that produces prints in a beautiful blue. She used turmeric in the process to get those hints of rich mustard gold. This piece is printed on water colour paper, matted, custom framed and measures 19 x 19 inches.

Moira made the other botanical print by combining the natural pigments in pussy willows with mordants, moisture and heat. It’s printed on water colour paper, matted and custom framed. It measures 12 1/2 x 13 inches. For a closer look at this printing process see here.