I am so excited and proud to announce the release of the Art That Helps Project partnering with A Beautiful Idea. 20 artists from around the country all created their depiction of the words and phrases: Art for the greater good, Haiti, helping, serving, creativity, love wins, people, compassion, humble, humility all while using only 4 specific colors. After all submissions were received I compiled all of the artwork together in a collage style to be sold in all of our Etsy shops. %100 of the profit of all the sales goes towards the Haiti relief fund through A beautiful idea and World Vision.

A beautiful idea was started by my friend Evie from Evie-s.com.  The idea is that artists/Etsy owners create a certain product to sell in their shop and then they partner online with A Beautiful Idea to donate the money to a charity via A Beautiful Idea’s donation center. That is JUST what we did…but this time we did it as a group. Below are the final collaborative art pieces. Some Etsy owners even went as far as to create other products with these final prints. See image above with the postcards, magnets, greeting cards, etc. SO fun.

Sometimes the world tends to see art as fluff, as extra, as… not necessary.  And honestly sometimes I can start to believe them. But its organizations like A beautiful idea that get me excited about finding unique ways to be a blessing to others with my art. It’s organizations like them who jump-start my inspiration to not back down. That is why I LOVE what A Beautiful Idea is doing. They are creating yet another way for us to contribute to the World with our artwork. They are creating an outlet that lets us support world causes, get the word out, and help others WITH OUR ART!!!

This collaboration has been amazing in the fact that it literally displays people coming together to help/make something happen. Even if their part or artwork is small… it fills up the blank space and has a unique reason for why its there. It reminds me that we all need others.

I want to introduce all of the artists that participated in this challenge. I AM SERIOUSLY AMAZED at the art that was submitted. It was so fun to see what people did, and how different they all are.  The description of the artwork is located below. Click on the picture to view their shop. Hunt around and check out their Etsy shop listings because they are so unique and fun.

AMANDA JOY: This statement screamed that it needed to be attacked with creativeness. I wanted to do a subtle heart and incorporate some textures, with large type of course!  First I created vectors in Illustrator and then used Photoshop to add texture/color treatments.

ALEJANDRA: For some reason, when I kept thinking about art for the greater good, I couldn’t stop thinking about a child’s playfulness.  I don’t know if it’s the optimism of a child, but I basically ended up creating this book that originally was called “Impossible” — a story of fear many of us share internally and one that faces everyone across the world during catastrophe. As you can see, these characters in the book (which I created from a photo of my fiance and I), are rising as a community above what may be deemed “impossible” and pull away the “im” to make it possible.  Surviving after a quake buried you alive for a week, reconstructing a country, and change for Haiti.  Impossible? No, absolutely possible.

ANGEL: I wanted to visually represent the hope there is in strength. Hope is always associated with looking at things above. The type is a translation from creole “Strength of the People”

KELLY FROM BUENO BUENO: I have always believed that people should use their talents and do what they can to help others in need. I created this image with the thought people have unimaginable capabilities and if they just used their capabilities and direct them toward a greater good every now and then, something beautiful can occur.

ANDREA: I chose “Love Wins” because this is one of my “life” sayings. The flowers, branches and the word “love” is all hand-sketched using a Wacom tablet. To me, it just seemed simple enough to say – love wins – and that through the exhibition of love, new life is created (thus the blossoms).

ARIAN: I wanted to go with the whole “shouting ‘love wins’ for all to hear” idea because I think it’s so easy to loose heart in the face of pain and suffering. I wanted to encourage others to take heart and not loose hope.  This illustration was hand-drawn then colored in Illustrator.

ELSIE: I created this altered art piece from a vintage copy of ‘Peter Pan’. I love the story, the happiness and sadness and childlike imagination. It’s one of my favorite human emotions

HEATHER: With illustrator I created this design representing new life and growth out of devastation and chaos.

HANNAH: I created this piece to show that love conquers all, it wins! No matter what comes, even if the ground is torn apart, LOVE remains and is there to mend back together the broken pieces. Love is motivation, it brings hope and gives strength. Haiti will continue to experience the “LOVE THAT WINS”!! 

JILLIAN: I am an avid believer that love leads us to hope. I was inspired by the idea that loving Haiti (to the fullest) will help restore hope to their country and encourage them to rebuild & look to the future. I love the texture that the different stitches of embroidery give and I just wanted to create something beautiful that I would be proud to have in my home.

EMILEE: For my design, I made the earth out of small ripped up pieces of paper all different shapes and sizes to represent how diverse our world is today, yet the one thing we have in common is we all know how to love. And even though some of us don’t have as much money or resources as another, we can all love on each other in different ways that can heal in different ways. My prayers go out to the people of Haiti and I hope that in some way I can touch their lives and heal their hearts.

JORDAN: My friend had taken this image on her last trip to Haiti a few weeks before the terrible earthquake last month.  Her now fiance has worked with an orphanage there for the past year and is finally able to return next month. This image represents not only their devotion to Haiti but the hope that is shown in all the children’s faces.

JAMIE: Authentic service stems from putting others before yourself. Love People.

KAYLA: I made this piece of art to represent the heart of all men.  It is the overflow of love and compassion for those who are longing for something greater than they can even understand.

MUNCLE FRED ART: We created this piece by tracing one of our original flowers in Photoshop. We then transfered the flower into Illustrator to create a vector and we used the colors for the project to create something that represents our products and our desire to help raise support and awareness about Haiti. We are a group of friends that love to create, and we jump on any opportunity to help! – Jessica, Kayla, Meghan, & Michaela from Muncle Fred Art

MEGAN: I decided that I would base my design on the mustaches on a stick that everyone seems to enjoy. I then wanted to include a phrase to tie it into the Art that Helps theme, which is where I got the message “True love cannot be disguised.

MELINA: I wanted to use a unique bird image. I used a handmade gift bag from my girlfriend. I took a picture of it, cropped it in Ps, elliptical-ed it, inverted it, then added text. The grey was originally pink so I took the red saturation out to get it grey.

MOCH: Love Wins in all situation, so the words are bold and stands out while I used the swirls to depict my emotions as the backdrop

NICOLE: I was drawn to what the peacock symbolized in legend and history. Some of my favorites were guidance, protection, watchfulness, love, and compassion. These words also come to mind when I think of Haiti, which through love and compassion we can all make a small difference. How I did it: First I drew the peacock with a pencil and then scanned it into photoshop. I added the color using multiple layers and blending modes.

RACHEL: i have a collection of these old bowls because they are so pretty, but also because they serve so many other purposes. an empty bowl to me has the potential to change the future for others. whether it be filled with money, food, love, faith…so my message is “serve”.

SAMUEL FROM A NEW MORE BEAUTIFUL STUDIOS: We wanted to create a message that was compelling and that communicated how each person chipping in and doing their part was showing love. “This” is the action that you take by purchasing this print and by doing so are supporting the efforts to help those in Haiti.

SARAH: This heart with a keyhole immediately came to mind (maybe it was because I was so inspired by Alice in Wonderland)!  I think sometimes we can get so caught up in our own little world that we are numb to the world around us.  It’s always good to have a reminder that there’s something out there much bigger than ourselves, we just have to be open to what God has for us to see or do.  I designed this simple reminder in Adobe Illustrator.

I hope you enjoyed checking all of this out. We would all love it if you blogged about this project, made people aware they they can help Haiti through purchasing our artwork, feature your favorite participant’s shops or items, blast some of the Etsy shop links around, or write about how A Beautiful Idea is making a difference for the world. We would love to hear your thoughts.