Photo by Casey Clark.

Defenders of Wildlife are on the lookout for a savvy Digital Campaigns Production Associate to support the Defenders Marketing department.  As a leading environmental nonprofit organization, Defenders of Wildlife are dedicated to the protection of endangered species and habitat. This is an awesome opportunity for someone who is willing to dive in to a hands-on position working with HTML and production of e-mail campaigns, fundraising, action alerts and social media. (Washington, D.C.)

Do you have what it takes to empower thousands of youth through leadership workshops, speeches and presentations? Are you a stellar public speaker with the ability to capture and motivate a crowd? Me to We, a social enterprise dedicated to creating a better world through socially conscious and environmentally friendly products, is seeking a Leadership Facilitator and Motivational Speaker. (Toronto)

The Partnership for Inner-City Education, a nonprofit organization that works with inner city New York City schools to break the cycle of poverty and achieve academic success, is looking for a full-time Marketing and Development fellow. This is an excellent opportunity for a recent grad that is passionate about education and children, as well as gaining experience and exposure to the world of communications and nonprofit organizations. Two-year commitment. (New York, NY)

SmartPower, a national nonprofit marketing organization that promotes clean energy and energy efficiency, is seeking a Community Outreach Manager to join its team. You would be responsible for using marketing and outreach strategies to meet and coordinate with local leaders and organizations in order to motivate them to actively participate in SmartPowers programs. (Hartford, Conn.)

Photo by 1 Foto 1 Family.

This post is part of “The Pitch” series, which follows up with socially conscious creatives who submitted to the inaugural Benevolent Media Pitch Night competition in November 2012. At the event, held in Washington, D.C., 13 different projects and organizations presented 3-minute proposals on how to use storytelling and design for social good, for a chance to win funding to make their ideas a reality. (Read about all the winners and finalists here.)

As we gear up to host another Pitch Night during our festival in late-September, we want to know: Where are they now? What’s the status of their project? What lessons have they learned? Do they have any requests for collaboration?  Stay tuned!

Meet Arianne Neigh, the creator, team leader and “wandering adventurer” behind 1 Foto 1 Family, a photo documentary project that aims to capture cultural connections through family. Arianne is privileged to have walked, paddled, skipped and surfed through more than 40 countries across the globe. Having not much more than her trusty headlamp and 10-year-old flip-flops, she wanted to find a simple gift for her gracious hosts while traveling. Arianne started giving family portraits as a logical token of her appreciation. This is where 1 Foto 1 Family was born.  Although Arianne is far from a professional photographer, she does have a remarkable lack of filter and mystery helping her to become friends with anyone. These anti-superhero powers are critical for weaving stories based on her experiences, creating bonds between unexpected people in far-flung places, and eating copious amounts of street food. Arianne hopes that 1 Foto 1 Family will allow her to share her life enhancing experiences and create understanding between cultures by telling the story of our families. To learn more about 1 Foto 1 Family, follow their work on Facebook.

Arianne Neigh presented The Global Archive Project” at Benevolent Media’s Pitch Night in November 2012. Photo by Ben Droz.

What is your project you pitched and why did you start it? Are you still working on your project and if so, what have you been doing to date?

I pitched “The Global Archive Project” last November, which was a project to capture family stories and portraits with a goal of showing that, although we look very different, the stories of our families can create understanding between cultures. This was really an idea that had been in the back of my mind for several years, but I hadn’t done anything more formal than chatting with a few friends about it. I decided that the Benevolent Media Pitch Night was a great opportunity to stop talking and to take a chance to do something.

I had such amazing support from our partners at Earthship Pitaya Festival during the preparation for Pitch Night that I decided to move forward. My boyfriend, Jake Lescher, joined the project, we changed the name to 1 Foto 1 Family, got my sister involved as a graphic designer, and even launched a Kickstarter campaign. Although we weren’t successful with Kickstarter (we learned a ton about what to do and not do,) our family and our friends at Earthship Pitaya Festival were so supportive that we decided to alter the design, simplify the project, and take the leap of faith to begin.

In February, we launched the project in El Carizal, Nicaragua where we volunteered at the festival, photographed families, and connected with new and old friends. We took portraits of families with special needs children, as well as helped put on the festival, which attracted more than 3,000 people and helped raise thousands of dollars for programs in the community. It was a rewarding experience for the two of us and helped us beta test the feasibility of our project.

Although I know this will likely be a lifelong endeavor, I hope that I can continue to collect stories about families. I have just returned from a trip to Southern Africa, and I am compiling that work and finishing some documentation from Nicaragua.  These will become part of our Twitter and Facebook pages, where we will begin to share the projects stories.

Do you have any requests for collaboration or calls to action? If so, what?

Right now we are looking for our next opportunity.  Perhaps, we will seek something closer to home and work with underserved parts of D.C. Hopefully, we can identify a partner who is already working in the target community. We have found this to be critical to the success of our projects by ensuring that we are sensitive to our hosts and providing them with something that will make them happy.  We want to make sure we are operating through exchange and not giving or taking on either end. At its heart, 1 Foto 1 Family is a collaboration. I would really love to have another member who is passionate about other cultures, has a fabulous eye for portrait photography, and wants to give back to others.

What have you learned from your work thus far?

Every time I work abroad, I remember to be patient, flexible and gracious. I learn to take advantage of opportunities but never of people. I learn to love a little more and to treasure the things that make me, and everyone around me, unique. I’ve learned that I don’t have to be perfect. I’ve learned to just go for it!

How has your perception of family changed from undertaking this work?

I am continually amazed and surprised by the strength of families, even in times of difficulty or maybe in the face of difficulty. Families are synergistic; the whole amounts to more than the parts. By nurturing the whole, we build strength together. I don’t think I have been able to capture that effectively yet, but I know it is there.

The Illuminator art collective shines a light on urgent issues, such as the explosions at the Boston Marathon. Photo by Michael Galinski.

As law enforcement officials intensify their investigation into Monday’s bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, activist-artist Grayson Earle recounts a creative response to the tragedy.

3:44 PM Alexander: um
3:45 PM a bomb just exploded at the boston marathon
me: what??

The news hit me in that familiar way. I was in the middle of making adjustments to some software we were using for the action we had planned for that Monday evening—a public projection of a subversive video game to celebrate Tax Day entitled “Tax Evaders.” A malaise was getting the best of me as I Googled through a few headlines and sank into my chair. I couldn’t care less about taxes at that point; the word “politics” left a bad taste in my mouth. Honestly, I just wanted to hug somebody.

I’m part of an art collective we call “The Illuminator“ that spun off of the Occupy movement. Our history begins with Mark Read installing a projector in a residential building across from the Verizon highrise on November 17, 2011 and projecting a very visible “99%,” which came to be known as the “Bat Signal.” Soon after that Mark and some fellow occupiers were given enough money to buy and modify a van, adding a swivel and vertical crank below a projector mount with the purpose of mobile projections around New York City and beyond. As a collective, we’ve joined underpaid workers on picket lines and promoted public festivals, among many other endeavors, literally and figuratively shining a light on issues that move us.

Something we care about deeply is the reclamation of public space, which we attempt to accomplish through public art installations. I view this is as being in contrast to things like Internet activism that take place in the comfort of our homes. While I appreciate the modes of sharing the Internet has enabled, I find that public art’s value lies in the human connections it facilitates, offline. That said, we witnessed the power of social media in full effect on Monday night.

The Illuminator projecting messages of peace on the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Photo by Lucky Tran.

When I arrived at the rendezvous to meet fellow Illuminator Kyle Depew, I lamented our Tax Day mission and mulled over calling it off altogether. “What about doing a Brooklyn Loves Boston kind of thing?” I thought out loud. He agreed and we called up Mark, Lucky and Athena, and everyone was in agreement. The gravity weighing on my heart reversed directions like an ascending satellite and our entire outlook on the day changed. We realized that we had an amazing opportunity to brighten the day, if only by 12,000 lumens. Athena poured through her glow-letters to spell PEACE and LOVE (with a bit of black tape to correct the deficit of a “P.”) Lucky and I created some images to project, and Kyle readied the van. It was a beautiful moment of teamwork that I’ll never forget.

We parked illegally outside the Brooklyn Academy of Music and cranked up the generator. At one point, two BAM security guards came out to halt the operation, but when they saw what we were using their building for, they snapped a photo and let us be. A crowd quickly gathered and the atmosphere was that of a connected, mourning community. Peace signs, heart taps, and even nods from police officers driving by sustained the positivity. A custodian came outside to see what all the fuss was about and told us that he’d like to see “Togetherness is the Key” up alongside the “NY loves Boston” logo.

Though it won’t bring back the lives we lost on Monday, I think that what we did meant something to those who saw it. It was our way of wrapping our arms around the folks that were too far away to touch. We may not know you, but we love you. I can’t express enough gratitude to all the kind words we’ve received in the past 48 hours. You have all warmed our hearts and inspired us to continue our work as a collective with a renewed optimism.

The Illuminator is Mark Read, Lucky Tran, Annabelle Heckler, Susan Forste, Daniel Latorre, Kyle Depew, Athena Soules, and Grayson Earle.

Photo courtesy of Heidi Phelps.

Self-proclaimed “femme-forward” artist Heidi Phelps is getting ready for her first solo show. Her female-focused fine art screen prints will be on display at Tryst, a popular D.C. coffeehouse, throughout the month of April, with an opening night party and special performance by musician Wytold on Thursday, April 4. She said she hopes the exhibit inspires audiences “to consider how women are so often vilified or canonized for behavior that goes against cultural norms.”

The founder of Wayward Broad Studio, which opened last October, has steadily gained traction with her body of work. She recently showed pieces at the Target Gallery at the Torpedo Art Gallery in Alexandria, Va. and was spotlighted  by BUST Magazine, which emphasizes women in arts and entertainment.

Last year, Heidi started a public participatory art project to raise awareness about Malala Yousafzai, the young activist from Pakistan who advocates for education, freedom of expression and women’s rights. Yousafzai made headlines for suffering an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen, inspiring people like Phelps to respond through their artwork.

Currently, Phelps sells her digital artwork on Etsy, an online storefront that will soon include screen-printed T-shirts, tote bags and other accessories. She also vends at arts and crafts markets, like the annual Cheap Art Sale in Mount Pleasant and Benevolent Media’s The Loving Market, both of which support causes that Phelps cares about, like ending domestic violence, supporting healthy lives for sex workers and creating a safe, supportive space for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community. We met up with Phelps to discuss her latest projects.

A portrait of the artist. Photo courtesy of Heidi Phelps.

What was your inspiration for your latest exhibit at Tryst?

Art is communication. Jean-Luc Godard is famous for saying “Il faut confronter les idées vagues avec les images claires” (“One must confront vague ideas with clear images.”)  My goal with this series of female-focused images is to get people thinking about how we define–personally and culturally–“good” versus “bad” behavior for women.  How do we expect women to behave, and what are our perceptions of women who go against our expectations?  What aspects of women’s behavior do we choose to focus on in pop culture, literary works, fairy tales, folklore and the media?

When tackling difficult themes, such as female vilification, you still create vibrant, beautiful imagery. What is your process for developing your work?

I just started thinking about intriguing women, and why I find them intriguing. When thinking about subjects that I wanted to draw, they were all over the moral and ethical spectrum but had one thing in common: they were all considered “wayward,” or going against their culture’s definition of acceptable behavior.  As for the process, every piece starts off as a sketch on paper which is further developed and then manipulated digitally to make a graphic print.

You’re passionate about empowerment for women. What made you take up this cause, and how have your efforts been received in the community?

I feel like I found my voice through art. There’s a sense of empowerment that comes with the feeling that you’ve created something substantial out of nothing, and with putting your thoughts and ideas out there, making yourself both seen and heard.  I think, as women, we’re raised to put other people’s needs before our own, and often we’re meant to feel guilty for carving time out to focus on our own thoughts, needs, desires and interests. Art is a way of claiming my space, claiming my thoughts, and encouraging discussion about our perceptions of women, what qualities we admire and discourage.

Photo courtesy Heidi Phelps.

I’m always curious to see how artists effectively merge business into art. Tell me more about how you’ve met the challenges and opportunities of these two realms.

It’s hard to be a good promoter, event organizer, business woman and still have the time and headspace to be creative.  It’s even harder when you’re squeezing in all of these things around a full-time job that is unrelated to your creative endeavors. But it’s absolutely possible, and that’s the main point that I want to drive home to people: It’s a lot of work, but it can be done.

What are your long-term career goals as an artist? 

To eventually make art the main thing that I do, not something that I squeeze into my schedule as time permits, and to start a nonprofit that promotes creative expression for women and girls, somewhere down the road. I want my art to be directly linked to a good cause.

Even if you had no idea about today’s historic events at the U.S. Supreme Court, you’d be blind not to notice a movement swelling online.

In the nation’s capital, oral arguments began yesterday on California’s Prop. 8, which amended the state Constitution to ban the right for same-sex couples to marry, and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which has limited the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman since 1996. Rulings are expected by the end of June.

In the midst of the hearings, marriage equality activists have taken to the streets–and to the, er, tweets–to make their voice heard. People across Facebook and Twitter have switched their profile pictures to become a red square with a pink equal sign–a variation of the blue-and-yellow logo of the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equal rights.

The color takeover, which launched in the early afternoon on Monday, was led by Anastasia Khoo, director of marketing for the HRC.

“By harnessing the passion that equality supporters feel for the freedom of loving and committed couples to marry,” she told Yahoo! News, “the internet is awash in a sea of red—the color of love.”

Facebook users shared the HRC’s red logo more than 100,000 times as of 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the nonprofit’s Tumblr blog. The pixels continue to spread.

STAR POWER

The logo got a significant bump on Tuesday morning from a Facebook post by the ever-popular George Takei. The Star Trek actor wrote, ”For those friends wondering, this special ‘red’ equality symbol signifies that marriage equality really is all about love. Thanks to the Human Rights Campaign for this effort. Please consider changing your profile today in support–esp if you are a straight ally.”  As of Tuesday night, his status update had more than 77,000 likes and 39,000 shares.

Other high-profile personalities who participated in the profile pic swap included celebrities like Sophia Bush and Lance Bass. Superstar Beyoncé showed solidarity in her own way, posting a handwritten note on her Facebook page that said, “If you like it, you should be able to put a ring on it. #WeWillUniteForMarriageEquality!”

Politicians painted the virtual town red, too, with Twitter avatar replacements made by Rep. Alan Lowenthal and Rep. Dan Kildee, plus countless other lawmakers.

While the symbol originated in earnest, the Internet’s twisted sense of humor quickly fueled spin-off parodies, including red-tinted images of cultural fads, from bacon strips to Grumpy Cat, and Bilbo Baggins to Paula Deen.

This certainly isn’t the first campaign to go viral. Similar messages spread when Congress tried to pass the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), which caused people to literally “blackout” the Internet. And you could write countless stories about the memes and hashtags that developed out of the Arab Spring and Occupy movements.

PASSIVE ACTIVISM?

Skeptics argue that social media-driven campaigns like these do little to make a real impact. A writer for VICE magazine put it bluntly: “The Red Marriage Equality Sign on Your Facebook Profile Is Completely Useless.” He argues that it would be more effective to protest and get arrested, write a letter to your senator demanding marriage rights for everyone, or debate the issue with conservative family and friends to try to change their opinion on the subject.

No matter whether the logo ends up changing law, one thing is for sure: people are seeing red. And wondering how to do something about it.

Photo courtesy of Kiran Gandhi.

Take your hand and place it on your chest. Can you feel the beating of your heart?

In many cultures around the world, drumming represents the heartbeat of Mother Earth. This month, in honor of  National Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, I want to focus on drumming, a practice that is female, in its essence, and has always evoked emotions from deep within. Women are creating beats that resonate beyond the realm of sound, using their instruments to empower people and create community.

Earlier this month, I made a trip to Los Angeles and met with a renaissance woman who uses drumming to create positive impact and encourage creative self- expression. Kiran Gandhi is a 24-year-old Georgetown University-educated mathematician, currently working as a data analyst for Interscope Records. As her personal website says, Gandhi “travels often to pursue endeavors of music, freedom, feminism, friendship, discovery, learning and love.”

During her early years, Gandhi said she noticed the eclectic range of female drummers across different genres of music — punk rock, go-go, jazz. As a natural curator, Gandhi said she recognized that drumming is a powerful vehicle for female empowerment, and she used it as a glue to bind diverse musical forces together. In 2011, when she was living in Washington, D.C., she hosted the city’s first all-women drumming showcase, called Rad Ladies That Drum.

“I wanted to showcase all the different pockets of D.C.’s music scene because people don’t think of D.C. as a cultural and music savvy town,” Gandhi said. “I also wanted to showcase all of the amazing women drummers in D.C.”

Historically and culturally, the practice of drumming has served as a powerful instrument of expression, from ritual prayers to warriors’ chants.

“It’s subliminal in the message that it has to share and it’s less threatening,” Gandhi said. “When I listen to a song, I can be choosing just to listen to it rhythmically or musically, or I can be listening to it on a deeper level, to understand what the artist’s message is. For that reason, music is political because it doesn’t make someone feel attacked or that ‘I have to believe what you believe.’ It gives someone the choice to be political or to just enjoy music.”

Female drummers may be under-represented in the music industry, but organizations like Batala, an all-woman percussion band, and publications like TomTom, a magazine about female drummers, are helping women express themselves through movement, song and percussion.

Gandhi said she hopes to use her knowledge about digital strategy at Interscope Records to one day launch her own music label.

“It would be more like a music incubator, where I’m able to pick bands that I think need to be heard, bands who have a message, bands who promote positivity, who promote diversity, who are female and share their music with the world,” she explained. “Otherwise, their voices and their stories would go untold.”

Reuters has a special slideshow for International Women’s Day. Here’s a photo by Ueslei Marcelino, showing a woman shouting slogans as she protests about violence against women, at the close of the National Meeting of Rural Women, in Brasilia.

Happy International Women’s Day! The global movement was created to inspire women and celebrate their achievements worldwide. The commemorative occasion originally started in the United States as a way for female laborers to demand shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. Now, people all over the world are organizing thousands of events, including political rallies, business conferences, local women’s craft markets, theatrical performances and fashion shows, to support the cause. This year’s theme is “The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum.”

Here are some notable storytelling and design projects that caught our attention. Share links to some of your other favorites in the comments!

Today, Google created a Doodle of women around the world.

Singers and musicians released a special song, “One Woman,” that was written for UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Dove launched a Photoshop action to un-airbrush unrealistic images of models, as part of its decade-long “Real Beauty” campaign.

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting has collected a series of reporting projects, “Women, Children, Crisis,” that illuminates the adversity and crimes endured by women and children around the world. Here’s one story about female indentured servants in Nepal.

The Huffington Post suggests “10 Female Artists to Watch” in 2013.

Multimedia artist Jaimie Warren recently showed “The WOAHS Of Female Tragedy II” exhibit at The Hole in New York. Photo via Huffington Post.

And in the world of social media:

There are a slew of campaigns that are tweeting for equality. Check out @VWCampaign, challenging the under-representation of women in the workplace; @EverydaySexism, documenting everyday experiences of sexism; and @_TYFA, the creators of the #TwitterYouthFeministArmy to mobilize a social media-savvy younger generation of feminists.

Instagram wrote a blog post to highlight influential women who use the photography platform to ”document their incredible stories of talent, triumph and humanitarianism.” The list of Instagrammers includes Bethany Hamilton (@bethanyhamilton), Yoko Ono (@yokoonoofficial), Gabrielle “Gabby” Douglas (@gabbydoug2012) and Padma Lakshmi (@padmalakshmi).

And to get an official photo fix curated by the International Women’s Day team, check out this board on Pinterest.

Have you ever wanted to see current or  potential  innovations for poverty or the environment without having to do a lot of researching or reading?  Have you ever thought of an idea and wanted to tell the world about it and get  feedback?  How it could be different was founded for these purposes – to enable people to easily see, share, and suggest ideas in different categories and be like a “Wikipedia for ideas.” It features both abridged ideas from the world and from our community to make it easy to learn about and spread ideas.

My name is Jaya and I am one of the co-founders of How it could be different.  The idea for How it could be different was developed from my own personal desire to want to learn and spread ideas I thought were innovative and potential solutions to issues in the world.  In 2005, I visited a developing country, India, for the first time.  Though I had known about poverty, it shocked me to be confronted by elderly with missing limbs and child beggars on the street.  I wondered:  What were the best ways to alleviate poverty?  Why did countries have different standards of living? What was the best nonprofit/charity to donate to?  What were ways governments could best aid their citizens?  I began to keep lists of ideas and became interested in discovering and learning about what ideas were out there to be potential solutions and improvements.

As I began to keep these lists, I wondered if there was a website that I could go to and easily see great ideas without having to read and search for them.  There is so much information about innovation in the world – research papers, newspaper and magazine articles, websites, TED talks, think tank policy briefs, books – and no website to really easily access this information.  I believe one of the most useful websites on the internet is Wikipedia because it makes information easy to find.  With this in mind, I decided to create How it could be different because I believe there is a need for the world to have a website where ideas for improvement can be collected and easily accessed.   In addition, on How it could be different, people can vote for ideas they agree with, allowing us to show which ideas are most supported by the public.  With increased funding  for more development and staff, we hope to be able to also add links for people to easily advocate for ideas from the site.

So, please join us at How it could be different to be able to easily see, share, and suggest ideas.  We are also posting an “Idea of the Day” on Facebook and Twitter and would love to see you there as well.  In addition, please get in touch if you would be interested to join our team and help us continue to collect, build awareness of and inspire ideas for improvement.

What does “love” really mean, in the aftermath of Valentine’s Day?

To explore this question, Benevolent Media is hosting The Loving Market on Saturday, February 16. The daytime pop-up shop will transform into an evening cocktail reception, with love-themed art and music as the backdrop.

We caught up with vocalist and songwriter Edy Blu, who will perform with her band that night, to ask her about the quest of finding her true sound and musical peace.  After years of honing her own style, the accountant-turned-singer is getting ready to release her first EP.

What can we expect at The Loving Market?
Saturday you can expect tootsy, soulful, original music that expresses love in music. (Buy tickets to the cocktail reception here: http://lovingmarket.splashthat.com.)

How did you get involved in music?
I moved to Australia to pursue a relationship with a guy I met while studying abroad. After graduating, I found at a job public accounting firm and moved to live with him, to later found out he had cheated on me. That was a big blow but then I used it as a way to start fresh. It was the first time as an adult woman that I was single, and I was at that point of, “what do I want to do with my life?” The first thing that came to my mind was music. I met a friend that was a singer and asked me to be in a music video. After the shoot, she asked me if I’ve ever thought of singing.

It’s amazing that after such a hard experience,  you found music. Was it hard to follow that calling?
Absolutely. I’ve always liked singing but I was very shy and I had all of these doubts: what if people didn’t like me? My friend said, “Who are you to not share that with the world?” Nobody had posed it to me like that. Before that moment, I had made it about all insecurities, my fears and me. At that moment, I realized what she meant. If you have that gift, you must share it. Everyone has talents and they are supposed to share it with the world.

Those are really powerful words. Art and music should always be about “we,” what you can give to others. So after that moment, you decided to go all in.
Yes, I realized that the world is a blank slate. I could do anything with my life, not because I’m special, but just because, as human beings, we have the potential of doing anything. I was ready to live the life of my dreams. And was like, “ok, I’m going to become a musician. I’m going to start singing.” So I started to take lessons, do open mics, little showcases that my friends would put together, and briefly joined a band.

Going back to the topic of love, the theme of our fundraiser event, do you think after having such a love letdown one can be capable of loving with the same passion? How much did that change you?
Now I know where I am going regardless of who I’m with, whereas when I was with him, it was about where we were going.

How did you end up back in D.C.?
I came to D.C. for a vacation and the music scene captivated me. It was incredible seeing the diversity: you can catch good Latin band one night, reggae, go-go, R&B singers, funk bands, people from all different backgrounds. I knew I had to come back if I was serious about music. And since I had family here, it worked fine. I joined a cover band and sang with See-I, which allowed me to grow as an artist. I learned a lot. They were the first band that I jammed with on that level of energy. It really helped me get comfortable on stage.

In your song “Music Lovers,” I can hear all that emotion you are talking about.  You begin by saying, “Burdens of my life keep bringing me down, but I can live life alone inside my frown.”
I tend to retreat when I’m feeling down and you should learn how to pick yourself up. That’s where the hook of the song comes in: “dance dance tonight” because dance helps everything.  The key message here is that we must recognize our fear and say “ok, I’m afraid, and I’m not going to let it stop me.” It really is about continuously confronting your fear and not letting it get in the way of what you want to do.

To all of our participating artists, we posed one simple question: What does “love” mean to you?

See what they had to say below – and if you’re interested in a piece, click on the image and place a bid on their work in our online auction: http://www.32auctions.com/lovingmarket

Dafna Steinberg

In my mind, love is not a simply one emotion. It is complex. It has levels. And it can be a source of great pain. There is an ache that many feel, a need to “be loved” and that ache can sometimes lead us to more harm than good. A lot of my work is about that ache and the paths it leads us down.

Elisa Rafter

Love to me is the individual’s need to connect and feel connected to another. In doing so bonding to share in each other’s joy and sadness, giving yourself to that person so that he/she becomes a part of you and you a part of him/her.

Emily Greene Liddle

My work is the hue-soaked advertisement and commentary on the human condition and experience. While the subject matter may initially appear light and playful, its content plays on deeper themes of contrast and contradiction in form, function, and perception in modern pop culture. The unusual pairings often evoke themes of sexuality, vulnerability, temptation, consequence, and danger–all unfortunate side effects of the thing we so endearingly call “LOVE”. Of course Love has moved mountains and crossed the seas, but Love has also caused death and destruction in the name of it. Our reality is somewhere in between: beautiful, invigorating, and lush, but imperfect and scarred along the way.

Gregg Deal

When I think of love, I first think of my family. My wife and my children embody all that I am and want to be. I think this statement is true in friends as well, and one that someone, somewhere can relate to in some capacity. When you tear down all the crap, you only have your bare bones left, and that usually means your loved ones.

Greg Slade

I think that love is a genuine feeling of endearment for another living thing. Love is expressed in many different ways and sex wouldn’t be close to the pinnacle of the definition. The ability to care for something unconditionally and contribute in its well being, to have a genuine sense of warmth when something is growing and maturing gracefully, flourishing. To take pride in the integrity of something, admiring its value and potential,coming with all of its perfect imperfections. In short, the desire to see someone or something do well in the life in which we inhabit: Unconditional implementations and exchanges of well being.

J’Nell Jordan

My work is all about people and all about connections. I only paint from photographs I connect with, so in a sense they can be a form of self portraits in which I identify with or wish to identify with. I usually connect with their body language, or expression, because it remind me of a place in time that I once was or gives me some sort of nostalgic and familiar feeling. I don’t usually know the people in the photographs I collect, and paint from, but I do see myself in them. You kind of have to see yourself in what/who you paint, because it is such an intimate activity. I think Love is acceptance, understanding and compassion towards another. To some degree, I think one must see themselves in the other person. When you self reflect, and learn to love yourself with all your imperfections and flaws, it makes it easier to love and empathize with others.

Jack Labadie

I’ve felt the love in my life since day one. I’m lucky to have been surrounded by great friends & an incredible family who have supported me & my artistic drive. On top of that, I’m in a wonderful relationship with the loveliest little lady named Emily.  She inspires me everyday & I’ve been able to tell in my work.  Whether it is the subjects of my work or just the general approach & view of my pieces, I can feel a warmth & substance that wasn’t there before.  I have a heavy understanding for themes of ‘love’, I like to share that in my work.

Julian Lytle

I think love is a complicated emotion that we constantly struggle with trying to understand but we need live. Some of us try to fight it, some of jumps at any glimmer of it, some never find and some are lucky to have it at least once.

Max Kazemzadeh

“I think that in a kiss, one finds something too deep to joke about.”

Mia Robinson

“Love is passion and endless play. It’s following your heart and your dreams, no matter where they may lead you. Love is spontaneous, adventurous, and playful. It is present and open–embracing the ease and the challenge. AND, love is mobile. With that in mind, we ought to ALL be moving around and infusing everything we do with it!

My pieces are all infused with that kind of love. It is how I generally describe my art–from mediums I use (mobile devices) to my painting process and subject matter. I try to be playful and spontaneous. I try use new approaches. I almost never have a clue as to where it will end up. The messy brush strokes, textures and colors are all a result of me just loving to draw and paint. Being able to draw on my iPad also makes my passion accessible and available to me at all times. It allows me to be in a constant mode of “”love”".

My overall view on love and how it relates to my art is very simple: “”If I love the process…I’ll love the piece. “” And I hope you do too. <3″

Paul Mericle

Love is like war, easy to start, but very hard to stop.

Superwaxx

I believe love is the foundation for all things that live in spiritual peace. I have created some of my greatest works while painting in a state of spiritual state peace. In some of my more familiar paintings I often incorporate symbols and icons of love. Using things such as hearts and red tented colors to create the feeling of love and peace.