Auction raises £50,000 for children's charity

The international children's charity, Arms Around The Child, have expressed their profound gratitude to all the artists, committee members, press and collectors who supported the Art Around The Child, 'Home is where the Heart is' art auction at the Fiat Chrysler Motor Village in London this month.

£50,000 was raised from the silent and online auction, and the live auction with Hugh Edmeades, Christie's International Director of Auctioneering. Curator Lee Sharrock worked closely with charity global director Ellie George Milner and partnered with Monica Colussi to make it a huge success.

The money will help start building a home for 50 HIV+ orphans in Jaipur, India who the charity has supported and developed for the past 10 years. I was honoured to become a member of the event committee last year, and I travelled to Jaipur to meet the kids and help them create their own art that was included in the auction - you can read more about that trip earlier on my blog. I also donated some of my taxidermy assemblage art pieces to the auction.

A charity spokesman said; "We urgently need to build the home as we have been given notice to quit our current rented home due to stigma around HIV/AIDS and pressure from the neighbours. We have had to move the children 4 times due to similar circumstances. The Rajasthan Government have donated the land and we need to fund the building."

"Additionally we work in Ghana with orphan children rescued from slavery and trafficking and in South Africa with children who are exposed to HIV/AIDS through abuse and children who live in child headed households. So a big thank you to everyone who made the exhibition and auction possible, your support means we can start to lay the foundations for the new home in Jaipur & fund our ongoing work in India and Africa."

You can see a full list of the artists involved on the image below.

Art Around the Child - artist roster grows

The latest artists have been announced who are supporting the 'Art Around the Child' auction on November 16th. It takes place at the Fiat Chrysler Motor Village UK in Wigmore Street, London.

Art created by children in India and Africa will go under the hammer, alongside work donated by an array of leading artists, to raise funds for the Arms Around the Child - a charity helping to build a home and create new opportunities for HIV+ orphans in Jaipur, India.

Curators of this landmark event are Lee Sharrock and Monica Colussi, with Ellie Milner from the charity Arms Around the Child:

INTRODUCING ROMULO CELDRAN

Rómulo Celdrán develops his work within the fields of drawing, painting and sculpture. He had his first solo exhibition at the age of 16. His early introduction into the professional artistic world led him to consolidate his artistic training in a self-taught way.

His curriculum vitae includes solo exhibitions like Rómulo Celdrán at Hasted Kraeutler Gallery in New York in 2014, Macro in 2013 at Arthobler Gallery, Zurich (Switzerland) or Zoom at Raquel Ponce Gallery in Madrid in 2010; group exhibitions at an international level featuring his participation in Sketchy at Hasted Kraeutler Gallery in New York in 2013, the ONCE Foundation IV Contemporary Art Biennial at the Conde Duque Cultural Centre in Madrid in 2012. His work can be found in private and institutional collections around the world.

INTRODUCING MIKE RUIZ

With an undeniable passion for the art of photography, world renowned artist and video director Mike Ruiz creates vibrant, ultra stylized work that stands out from the crowd. Collaborating with the best of the best, he works with an impressive list of clients including beauty and fashion brands like L'Oreal, Shick, Dark, Lovely and Garnier along with a host of A-list celebrities including Prince, Betty White, Katy Perry, and Nicki Minaj to name a few.

An optimist at his core, Mike always shoots big, and is known for bringing the fantastical to life through a creative vision that knows no bounds. Using materials and mediums that most photographers would never think of, his work has been featured by editors at Elle, Vanity Fair, L'Officiel , Paper, Flaunt, Interview, Brazilian Vogue, Prestige and many more.
 
In 2007 Mike was inspired by a project he did with RuPaul, and he formally added video production to his repertoire. Since then he’s had the pleasure of working with Vanessa Williams, Kelly Rowland, Jody Watley, Kristine W., Shontelle, The Blonds, etc... on music videos that are both unexpected and riveting.

To attend the auction and event - please RSVP

Charity auction - latest artist news

Art Around the Child: November 16th, a selection of artworks to raise funds for the Arms Around the Child - a charity helping to build a home for HIV+ orphans in Jaipur, India.

Curators Lee Sharrock with Monica Colussi, and Ellie Milner from the charity Arms Around the Child, are bringing together an array of talented contemporary artists for this landmark event - here's the latest:

INTRODUCING TONI GALLAGHER

In the late 1990’s Toni graduated from Brunel University.
 
After a stint training as an Ice Carver, Gallagher decided she needed a slightly warmer career path. Toni came in from the cold and spent the next few years as an Art Director in commercials.

In November 2012 she held her first solo Art Exhibition,  “The Gluttonous Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” to much critical acclaim. Currently she is exhibiting in Venice in a group show titled Fall Of The Rebel Angels II.

Much of Gallagher’s work is inspired by the fragility of life and centres around perception, identification and interpretation of the sensory information surrounding us. Her work focuses on symmetry, usually associated with positive characteristics such as good health, beauty and balance, interwoven with a macabre beauty.

INTRODUCING REBECCA MASON

Rebecca Mason is a UK based artist using light to convey the darkness within human life, existence and emotion. Her work is an extraordinary mix of truth and beauty through which she is able to engage her audience with brutal observations about life, love, money and culture with her honest, and often humorous, interpretation of the modern world.

Neon is the brush she uses to create a gritty and simultaneously delicate world. Drawing inspiration from the chaotic playground of London, life experiences,

mistakes, feelings and from the events of the wider world and politics. Her work focuses on day to day human existence. It encompasses themes of inequality, fear, misinformation, disinformation, imperfection, prejudice, blame, judgment, assumptions, truth, acceptance, power, control, chaos and wilful oblivion.

To attend the auction and event - please RSVP

Save the date - Art Around the Child

I've taken a bit of time off from the Blog to concentrate on work, but I'm back with an important 'save the date' - November 16th 2017 for the 'art around the child auction' in London, fundraising to help build a home for HIV+ orphans in Jaipur, India.

It is a project that I'm humbled to be involved with - the money raised will help transform the lives of many disadvantaged children. You can read more about our trip out to India to work with the kids last year here on my Blog. Check back for regular updates as we get nearer the big night.

Massive thanks goes out to curators Lee Sharrock with Monica Colussi, and Ellie Milner from the charity Arms Around the Child, for bringing together what promises to be an amazing event, with the power to change lives.

Art Around the Child - an update

At the end of this year a major exhibition and auction will be taking place, featuring art created by a group of HIV+ orphans in Jaipur, India. It is being organised by the internationally acclaimed charity Arms Around The Child.

'Art Around the Child' is a project that I'm humbled to be involved with - the money raised will help transform the lives of disadvantaged children. You can find out more about this amazing initiative in the official press release from the charity below.

You can read about our trip out to India to work with the kids last year here on my Blog. Check back for regular updates throughout 2017.

Thanks supporting my art in 2016!

Happy New Year from me, and my merry band of helpers here in North Devon!

2016 has been such an incredible year, with two London exhibitions and giving a talk about my work to the North Devon Arts group to mention a few - take a browse through my Blog to find out more about what I've been up to.

Of the many highlights was our inspirational trip to India with the international charity Arms Around the Child, to create art that will become the focus of a major fundraising initiative next year.

Have a wonderful 2017, and thank you to everyone who has supported my art in so many ways in 2016.

Art Around The Child - a visit to India

I'm honoured to have been invited to work with the internationally acclaimed charity Arms Around The Child on an art project that has taken me to work with HIV+ orphans in Jaipur, India.

Over the next week I will be working with the children to create their own art, and I'm also making a piece myself to donate - ready for an international auction alongside other artists next spring. The money raised from this project will help transform the lives of children like those I'm with right now.

It is a humbling experience being out here. The young people we're working with are truly amazing, so happy and enthusiastic - they have welcomed us with gusto and are already creating some really wonderful paintings with materials we shipped out ahead of our journey from North Devon. Later this week we're working on three large pieces.

'Art Around The Child' is a major fundraising initiative that will culminate in a VIP reception at a major venue in the West End of London in Autumn 2017, an auction of donated artwork and an after party with live DJ performances and celebrity appearances.

You can read the full press release from the charity below this gallery of photos taken today by my friend and team member George Barrett, and my partner Charlotte Hunter, who have travelled with me on this trip of a lifetime.

PRESS RELEASE

Arms Around The Child (AATC) is pleased to announce a unique opportunity for your art to be the centrepiece of a major international charity art auction.

AATC’s mission is to work from the ground up, within communities across Africa and India - and beyond - to ensure that children who are orphaned, often affected by HIV/AIDS, abandoned, abused, trafficked or living in child-headed households, are rescued from harm’s way, lovingly taken care of, and given the hope they need to secure a better future.

The statistics are shocking! 151 million children are living homeless on the streets. 1.2 million children are trafficked every year. 132 million children have been orphaned worldwide. 17.8 million children are AIDS orphans.

We are reaching out to the international Fine Art family of visual artists, and to leading private collectors and institutional collections to request donations of outstanding contemporary artworks in every medium with the overall theme of “HOME” in mind for inclusion in a Live and Silent Auction, Autumn 2017.

Lee Sharrock is curating the exhibition and auction to include artists individual responses and interpretations around The Dolls House concept. The Dolls House artworks will be exhibited along with art created specially for the auction including work by artist Paul Broomfield, who is traveling to Jaipur, India this winter to spend time with HIV+ Orphans and creating collaborative artworks with them. 

The Dolls House, symbolising a home is an enchanting and popular toy valued by both adults and children, and found to exist in many cultures tracing back to the Egyptian tombs of 5000 years ago. The Dolls House encourages creativity, imaginary play, symbolic representation, social and emotional skills and they are highly collectable.

Guests will be invited to a celebrity cocktail and canapés reception and the opportunity to view all donated artworks, before the Live Auction commences. All Live and Silent Auction artworks will be exhibited publicly and online before the event; Silent Auction pieces will remain exhibited online for 7 days after the event.

The grand finale to ‘ART AROUND THE CHILD’ will be a glittering After Party, with live DJ performances and celebrity appearances at a major West End venue. Arms Around The Child (AATC) has a critically acclaimed, international reputation for excellence in the field of premiere event creation and delivery. The charity’s recent events have included ‘The Black Ball’ with Alicia Keys in New York and ‘The Other Ball’ with AATC Ambassador Mark Ronson in London, where we hosted sensational performances from Florence and the Machine, Lily Allen, Rudimental and Angelique Kidjo, among many others. These wonderful occasions have always provide a highly inspirational platform for the auction of magnificent examples of world-class contemporary art and design, created by some of the world’s leading visual artists.

‘The Other Ball’ in London garnered close to a billion impressions, across every imaginable media outlet in the UK and worldwide – includes The BBC, Vogue, GQ and every major UK national daily newspaper, from The Financial Times to The Sun.

Leading up to the event, AATC, and our online auction partner Charity Stars, will be running a fully integrated, international, multi-media PR campaign (incl. official schedule of contributing artists and donated artworks and interviews & editorial features with contributing artists), to drive maximum media and public awareness of the event, our artists and their art, in order to generate the highest possible auction revenues for the children we support.

HOW WE SAY ‘THANK YOU’ TO YOU

Virtue is its own reward and brings with it the truest and highest pleasure.

A priceless benefit of your involvement with the charity, as a contributing artist, is the simple knowledge that your art has forever changed - for the better - the lives of children you have never met, transforming their life chances.

In every corner of the world, the power and global reach of social media is evident and more Fine Art buyers and enthusiasts are interested in seeing how the artists they support are being socially responsible in giving their support to those who need it.

Using the power of your art to raise awareness amongst your buyers, supporters and followers about the issues we face as global citizens makes a massive difference.

We cordially invite you to join us.

All art donations and related PR are managed directly by Arms Around The Child, supported by its appointed agencies.

For further information to discuss art donations, please contact:

Ellie Milner - Arms Around The Child

Tel: 07801292553
Email: ellie@armsaroundthechild.org