Canadian painter, sculptor, and pattern-maker Andrew Ooi individually creases, unfolds, paints, and re-folds each piece of paper in his art by hand before assembling them all together. By combining color, pattern, and shape, Ooi creates a well-organized natural order.
“My art is about making sense of the world. It is about arranging the disparate shapes and elements I perceive environments, histories, geographies, art, artistry and human nature to be made up of into tangible systems and forms,” explains Andrew. “It is about occupying these realities, ideas and interests in feeling and being, to allow meaning and its significance in the long view, to develop measuredly.”
The hidden strength of women, so eloquently portrayed by artist Katie Evans through her illustrations.
“At first glance the women in my work may appear meek and docile, lying lifeless or staring blankly into space. The seemingly submissive poses they hold become performances of endurance as they firmly resist their environment. They are immersed within themselves, possessing a quiet, reserved power.”
The Birthday Party Project
Our goal is to make every child feel known and loved. Your gift helps us reach children in your backyard, and all across the country. At our parties, every birthday child receives a birthday badge, individual birthday cake, and a birthday gift. All the kids and families enjoying the party participate in crafts, games, and activities and leave with cupcakes and party favors.
RAINN aka The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
RAINN is the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org y rainn.org/es) in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.
Donors Choose
Support a classroom. Build a future. Teachers and students all over the U.S. need your help to bring their classroom dreams to life. Get crayons, books, telescopes, field trips, and more for a classroom today.
The Sierra Club Foundation
The Sierra Club Foundation promotes climate solutions, conservation, and movement building through a powerful combination of strategic philanthropy and grassroots advocacy. The Foundation is the fiscal sponsor of Sierra Club’s charitable environmental programs.
Feeding America
The Feeding America network is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, working to connect people with food and end hunger. Donors, staff, and volunteers all play an important role in our efforts to end hunger in the United States.
The Humane Society of the United States
With your help, we fight the big fights, working to end all forms of animal cruelty and achieve the vision behind our name: A humane society. (Or Google your local branch and donate directly!)
Big Brother Big Sisters of America
Big Brothers Big Sisters helps children realize their potential and build their futures. We nurture children and strengthen communities. And we couldn’t do any of it without you.
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global partner helping similar organizations around the world. Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide. (You can also directly donate or volunteer at your local branch!)
ACLU
Defending our rights in the courts, empowering communities across the U.S., and influencing public policy with a powerful voice.
Autism Speaks
Autism Speaks is dedicated to promoting solutions, across the spectrum and throughout the life span, for the needs of individuals with autism and their families through advocacy and support; increasing understanding and acceptance of people with autism spectrum disorder; and advancing research into causes and better interventions for autism spectrum disorder and related conditions. Autism Speaks enhances lives today and is accelerating a spectrum of solutions for tomorrow.
Pittsburgh-Specific
Animal Friends
Our full-service companion animal resource community serves our region by providing approximately 15,000 spay/neuter surgeries annually, and impacting more than 120,000 lives through humane education, pet behavior classes, pet therapy and our pet food bank each year. Animal Friends is proud to continue to save lives simply put, because it’s what we do.
Center for Victims
For more than 42 years, Center for Victims has provided effective and quality services to hundreds of thousands of victims of all crimes including: domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, child sexual assault and physical abuse, elder abuse, homicide, burglary and incidents of mass violence. CV’s staff provides critical crime victim support and training and education that meet the diverse needs of all people regardless of age, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical disability or socioeconomic status.
Coro Pittsburgh
Our mission is to advance ethical leaders and build leadership capacity in order to create a more connected and inclusive community where people of all backgrounds and circumstances participate in making their community more livable for everyone.
Day One
We work to end the cycle of poverty for single parent families by providing housing, education and career support, and community connections so that parents can achieve self-sufficiency and their children can succeed in school.
Girls Rock! Pittsburgh
Girls Rock! Pittsburgh is an empowerment program for female youths of all definitions, abilities, and backgrounds. Our program utilizes the process of making music to instill tools for the amplification of self-confidence, creative expression, independent thinking, mutual respect, and cooperation while cultivating a supportive and inclusive community of peers and mentors.
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
The mission of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is to feed people in need and mobilize our community to eliminate hunger. We work toward our mission daily, guided by commitments to nutrition, sustainability, inclusion and more.
Humane Animal Rescue
We strive to provide all aspects of care to abandoned, neglected, and injured animals; reunite lost pets with their caregivers or seek new families for them; educate the community on humane care and interactions with all animals with the goal of reducing pet overpopulation and negative relationships with native wildlife; reinforce a standard of living for animals and prevent cruelty; and provide assistance and medical care to injured, orphaned, or ill native Pennsylvania wildlife with a goal of returning them to their natural habitat. Our open door policy ensures that no animal is ever refused shelter.
THRIVE Southwest PA
THRIVE envisions educational communities where students, educators, and families can celebrate, learn about, and thrive in diversity of gender identity, expression, and sexual orientation. Their mission is to nurture and empower educational communities where students, educators, and families create and sustain LGBTQ-inclusive environments in which everyone reaches their full potential.
At first look, the porcelain works of Olivia Walker seem to have some sort of botanical influence. Turns out it’s coral. Walker explores growth and decay through the addition and subtraction of tiny pieces of porcelain clay to the initial vessel she’s created, each shape speaking to her and dictating the final result.
Multidisciplinary artist Josie Lewis creates works that make me – and I’m guessing lots of others – insanely happy! Winding trails of graduated colored circles that travel over and under themselves on their journey, abstract moments caught forever in resin that remind me of the prettiest petri dishes, and so much more.
Sky blends into land blends into… horse? Yes. What looks to be grasslands, plains, and more are actually the carefully photographed backs of horses. Lee Diegaard‘s Equuleus project is a single part of a longterm multi-media project entitled In Your Dreams (Horses) that explores the creature’s personality traits, as well as sensory processing, experiences between horse and human, and more abstract concepts.
Cosmetic cases are small artworks unto themselves, just looking at all of those little compartments filled with saturated color leave me ready to create. But Geneva-based artist Sylvie Fleury takes them to another level by painting shaped canvases that recreate their beauty on a larger scale. When it comes down to brass tacks, an artist’s palette and a makeup artist’s tools of the trade aren’t much different.
I’ve been thinking a bit about what’s on my own Christmas list this year and I wouldn’t mind one little bit if one of Gloria Landenberger‘s handmade ceramic masks showed up under the tree. Each one is made and assembled by hand in limited editions, the end result being glazed stoneware with a unique look.
If you live in Los Angeles, or more specifically Koreatown or Silver Lake, you might be familiar with the discarded treasures of anonymous artist Lonesome Town. Dumped sofas, chairs, and televisions are given a transformation into sad clowns before being left on the curb again for treasure hunters to find and re-home.
