World Vision recognizes the power of visual art as a way to communicate, which knows no boundaries across cultures, languages, and worldviews.  It can communicate the need to respond to child sponsorship, real-life issues of extreme poverty and social injustice, the global sex trade, or the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  Visual art can inspire – and yes, even cast a vision of hope.

That’s why The Art of Helping Others has joined World Vision’s artist affiliate program, to invite visual artists, photographers and others in the visual arts to join this creative collective – to participate in group thematic exhibits and other events that advocate child sponsorship and ultimately, practice the art of helping others.  It will be a brilliant way for artists to show and sell their work, and help those that lack the ability or opportunity to help themselves in communities worldwide.

Perhaps you are or know of a visual artist or photographer that would be interested in learning more about what we plan to do and would want to get involved.  If so, invite them to connect with me at douglas@theartofhelpingothers.com for more information.

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Earlier this month, The Art of Helping Others website was voted #46 of the top 100 sites

Nonetheless, we thought we’d share links to some of our more conversational topics for your perusal and comments.

Painting by Faith not Sight

Silence is the Real Crime Against Humanity

Defining Your Art

All Art is an Apprenticeship

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Not only is the packing and shipping included in your purchase price, but 25% of the net proceed goes to World Vision programs that support micro-loans, the fight against human trafficking, social injustice and extreme poverty.  Click here to view available original art.

Happy Holidays and thanks for practicing the art of helping others!

Why so inquisitive?  Well – it intrigues me to know what it is that other artists do, how you might define your own art, and even your approach to the creative process.

I really want to encourage you to share your thoughts on this.

My guess is when we look back through the posted comments; they’ll reveal a descriptive array of thinking that resembles an ornate fabric of creative diversity woven together, which reflects what inspires us to do what we do.

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I think painters and writers have a lot in common, maybe more than they think or have thought of.

A painting is like a story that captures our imagination, drawing us into a place filled with wonder and a sense of expectation.  Painting, perhaps even story is never really finished – it just stops in interesting places.  And while we share this commonality, it seems that all art is an ongoing apprenticeship and that the bigger picture of art really is life, and our lives.

Leo Tolstoy said that it’s within our power either to serve God or not to serve him.  By serving him, we add to our own good and the good of the whole world.  Not serving him, we forfeit our own good and deprive the world of that good, which was in our power to create.

Like art, life is an apprenticeship.  That which we learn and put into practice is what truly matters.  The bigger question is whether we will seize those moments, adding to the good of the world around us, or forfeit those opportunities only to leave us all the more impoverished in spirit.

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Remember; up to 25% of the net proceed from sales benefit International Justice Mission, which secures justice for children exploited in the global commercial sex trade and World Vision, which tackles the issues of extreme poverty and injustice.

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One quote I’d read years ago and stumbled upon recently is “Architecture is frozen music.”  For me, revisiting this quote was like meeting an old friend on the street by chance and getting reacquainted after many years.  What power in four simple words.  The power of architecture as an art form has always captured my imagination and there is something musical about it that seems timeless and when well done, is awe-inspiring.

Select one of your favorite quotes and share it.  Maybe it’s connected to a defining moment in your life or perhaps it just made you smile and laugh.

Support the charitable work of The Art of Helping Others.  Order The Art of Helping Others postage stamps (approved by the USPS) or other goodies from our online Merchandise Store, purchase our new book, or order an art print.  Up to 25% of the net proceeds benefit charitable humanitarian and advocacy organizations.

The Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy said, “A man who professes the teaching of Christ is like a man carrying a lantern before him on a long, or not so long, pole; the light is in front of him, always lighting up fresh ground and always encouraging him to walk further.”

No matter what, who or whom you believe in – or perhaps, don’t believe in, belief at any level takes some degree of faith.  I think Tolstoy’s quote beautifully captures that journey of exercising some sliver of faith in ourselves with his imagery of the lantern lighting up fresh ground, as we place one foot after the next moving forward on the path we travel.

While this reflects each of our own personal journeys, it also reminds me of the process the artist walks through to create, which requires an exercise in faith to put brush to canvas, pen to paper, voice to a melody.  There are plenty of persons around who will tell you what you can’t do or cannot accomplish; but few who will say what you can do.  I say – walk on.

Support the charitable work of The Art of Helping Others.  Order postage stamps or other goodies at our Merchandise store online, purchase our new book, or order an art print.  Up to 25% of the net proceeds benefit charitable humanitarian and advocacy organizations that positively impact communities worldwide.

But I like to think that art is a kind of confession for artists, some blatant, others more or less oblique, but all digging deep below the surface of life, probing beyond the ordinary and mundane, unearthing insight and meaning in its stories.

If we choose (and we do have a choice), the art we create and share can have the audacity, the dramatic suddenness to move people, to be a bit impolite perhaps and so disquieting that it challenges fixed perceptions and perspectives.

And while our work is like preparing for a good accident to happen, I like to believe our art is meant to reveal and give life a shape, whatever that may look like, and we as artists are in a sense, God’s little pickpockets.

Support the charitable work of The Art of Helping Others.  Visit our Artist Gallery Page to order art prints or contact the artists directly if interested in original art.

For The Art of Helping Others T-shirts and more, visit our Merchandise Store at TheArtofHelpingOthers.com, where up to 25% of the proceeds are given to charity.  Thanks for practicing the art of helping others.