Freaking bananas!  We are so flattered about all of the unbelievable artistic talent that has offered to participate in Sam Flax‘s “30 Artists in 30 Days” event to benefit One Love Generation!  Here is a little teaser of Chris Hamer‘s in-store work yesterday.  Be sure to join us on the 31st at The Goat Farm for the finale auction & thank you SAM FLAX team…and thank you CHRIS!

…Nacho Average 5K!

Run for One Love Generation this Cinco de Mayo!  Register now here: www.active.com/5k-race/atlanta-ga/one-love-stache-dash-2012

@StacheDash5K

SAM FLAX PRESENTS: 30 Artists in 30 Days, an event benefiting One Love Generation

March 1st through March 30th: 30 artists in store doing live work including:

Chris Hamer – Skie – Michi Meko – Keif Schleifer – Ashley Schick – Sam Parker – Kristin Gorell – Ted Murphy – PLF – Adrian Barzaga – Henry Detweiler – Dax – Joe Tsambiras – John Tindel – Dubelyoo – Matthew Miller- Brandon Sadler – Trek Matthews – La Pandilla – Lucha Rodriguez – Paco Vergachette – Amy Ashbaugh – Kai – Ashley Anderson – Evereman – Nick Benson – Joy Phrasavath – Shawn Knight – Patricia Lacrete – Nathan Frost – Catlanta

March 31st – The Goat Farm – Silent Auction – 8pm
- All artwork created by the participating artists will available to bid on throughout the evening – All proceeds will benefit One Love Generation

Congratulations to OLG teen artist, Eve Brown, who was featured in Atlanta INtown as Atlanta’s 20 Under 20.  Click here for the full article.  We are SO proud of you EVE!!!!

Art Education is an incredibly powerful tool in helping people overcome emotional and psychological damage and to promote healing and overall well-being. At Rain Tees, we believe in using art education to spread awareness about environmental destruction and to help children in areas experiencing this devastation firsthand to share their stories with the world and broaden awareness about these issues. To do this, we donate art supplies to children in struggling communities and ask them to draw what they see around them. We then hand make eco friendly apparel featuring their original artwork. For every tee shirt sold, our charity partner, Trees for the Future plants a tree in a critically endangered area. So far over 65 million trees have been planted and helped communities in Central America, Africa, and Asia. Rain Tees currently works with children in over 38 countries and has donated thousands of school and art supplies. I had had the honor of interviewing three influential women in the Art Education world regarding their experiences with being part of Rain Tees art sessions. Zoe Tyron is a Rain Tees contributor and anthropologist who has worked with indigenous peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon and Andes, on sustainable development projects in these lands, and leads Shamanic tours amongst many other humanitarian activities. Jennifer Lester is the founder of One Love Generation, a non-profit working to empower youth to create positive change through creativity and service. Beth Doane is the founder of Rain Tees and Andria International, author of “From the Jungle”, and a true philanthropic entrepreneur.

Question: What do you enjoy most about being part of a Rain Tees art session? What was your most memorable experience or what have you learned from the children you have worked with?

Zoe Tyron:
I just love being with the children, seeing their excitement at being given colors, pencils and paper. Usually we are in communities in the Amazon where the children literally have very few and sometimes no school supplies. It always amazes me how brilliant the children are when given the tools to create art, they have such a deep knowledge of their environment and the creatures within it, even when they haven’t drawn before, their pictures are so stunning. What is always most memorable to me is working with children who’s traditional lands have been polluted by oil companies. It is utterly heartbreaking to see a beautiful picture with toucans, butterflies, trees, rivers and then black (for crude oil) in the river or dead animals and fish. I have burst into tears on more than one occasion, the complete lack of pretense and innocent representation of the destruction of their lands cuts me to my core, and inspires me to do whatever I can to support these children in having their cultures and lands protected.

Jennifer Lester:
I see art as a conduit to communicate with children, a level we can all connect on. At One Love Generation, we encourage children to do positive things with their art to make an impact and provide an opportunity to give back. Recently we did an event called the Empty Bowl Project. We had children create ceramic bowls to represent homelessness in Atlanta. At the event, we used the bowls for soup and sold them, this raised money for the Gateway Center, a homeless shelter. A 16-year-old teen artist was so proud of the impact she made, “I may only be 16 years old, but tonight we are making a difference. Our contribution will feed the women and children at The Gateway Center for one night”.

During a trip to Guatemala, One Love Generation created a tree sculpture made of trash called the “tree of life”. It represented the excessive waste that is occurring globally and how we can create beauty from trash. This raised consciousness about the issue and brought a community together. During the Rain
Tees portion of this trip we asked the children to draw what they saw around them and they all drew pictures of the Tree of Life sculpture. This showed the impact of this project on the community and what a vast affects it was having. These projects show the power and importance of art education, I am proud to be a part of that.

Beth Doane:
Every art session I have experienced has been truly transformational- not just for the children involved but also for us as leaders and volunteers. The best part for me is watching the children create their art because they become completely immersed in their pieces and it’s the first time many of them have had the opportunity to embrace their own creative abilities through paper and a simple coloring utensil. My most memorable art session was one we did in Cost Rica a few years ago because it was one of the first art sessions we ever did. One child there at age 11 founded her own organization to save the rainforest while another was busy saving an endangered species of monkey- it was amazing to see the positive work already happening there shared through their images. “Art Therapy” actually refers to a modern form of psychological treatment and it can be incredibly healing and powerful. Trauma and emotional conflicts can emerge as a result of unexpressed or painful feelings and past experiences and art therapy is a safe way to release these things safely. I have seen how art can often communicate much deeper than words and the children we work have some very intense trauma that they grow up surrounded by on a daily basis. It’s our goal to share their experiences and create change where it’s needed most.

Have a great week Everyone,
From Everyone here at Raintees

by Charlotte McCauley

photo courtesy of Jenny Abrams

Tel Aviv based street artist, Know Hope, traveled to Atlanta and worked with One Love Generation’s teen artists. Know Hope has installations in galleries and on the streets throughout the world. His work is identifiable; a black and white figure is usually present with a stitched on heart in bright red usually appearing on the figure’s sleeve while a hole where the heart is missing is on the figure’s chest. Many of his works also include logs with hearts stitched to the interior and white flags flapping in the wind. Working in conjunction with Know Hope the OLG artists made a time capsule. Many discussions led up to the final product. Artists spoke of how they perceived their generation. Due to the magnitude of varying ideas artists were split into groups with similar ideas. Each group created a final product for the time capsule, then each piece was placed into a small wooden building. Together the buildings made up a miniature time capsule containing rooms full of ideas. Ranging from portraits to designs, each unique piece represented every individual’s perspective and now it will be saved for all prosperity.

For the past four months, I have been interning at One Love Generation. One Love Generation’s mission is to empower youth to inspire positive social change through art, service and awareness. During the little time that had the opportunity to be there, I can honestly say that the OLG Studio and Mentoring programs have more than fulfilled this mission.

The two major projects that I got to work on were the annual art show and the Empty Bowls Dinner. Before I describe my experiences, I have to say that Jennifer has a talent for making every seemingly normal activity inspiring and empowering. The art show was no normal art show. First and foremost, the art show showcased the amazing work of teenage artists (the talent at the studio is astounding). Secondly, the artists were not selling artwork to raise money for themselves. Each artist chose an organization or cause that he or she felt strongly about, and after the profits from their sales were tallied, a percentage went toward helping a specific cause. This was such a wonderful idea because it really got the young artists thinking about issues and movements in their local and global community that they would help out.

The Empty Bowls Dinner was, by far, my favorite event to work. The idea surrounding the event was ingenious, and I really think all of the students took something away from participating in the fundraiser. It is no secret that the metro-Atlanta area has a large homeless population, and this event really helped me to open my eyes about the severity of the situation and debunk misconceptions that I held about homeless people. After getting to speak to a man who was once homeless, I learned that stereotypes of homeless people are often times untrue. The truth is, sometimes, unfortunate and uncontrollable events can devastate life as you know it, and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to be a part of such a life changing and inspiring event.

Working at OLG was such a rewarding experience. I have received the opportunity to meet unique personalities and had the opportunity to learn about the positive transformations of so many young artists. From moments of pain to moments of joy, One Love Generation is a place of safety, comfort, and astonishing talent. It  is a place where everybody is somebody, and I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to volunteer here. Again, thank you Jennifer!

One Love Generation selected five teen artists to participate in this year’s international art service project to Guatemala.  Through mutual participation with the local community of El Remate and Project Ix-Canaan; the OLG teens addressed the importance, protection and conservation of tropical rainforest by designing a Tree of Life sculpture.  The Tree of Life is a common belief among many cultures that refers to the idea that all life on earth is related and connected to each other.  The sculpture was created from 1,500 plastic water and soda bottles that local residents collected from the community streets.  We hope this sculpture will create awareness within all that see it, and inspire them to continue this movement towards positive change…think before you litter & beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

See the full photo set HERE!

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