By Jessica N. Prado
Friday, April 25, 2008
LOGAN –“Buy art, save the world,” is the slogan for an emerging new organization that was founded by three Utah State University students, who are also artists, and is devoted to raising money through art sales for various charities.
What started out as a service project last semester for Miles Hicks, 24, a graphic design student, has since evolved into an opportunity for other local artists to get involved with charity work and get publicity for their artwork.
The three guys who make up Art Saving the World have raised money for charities they are connected with through either work or school.
So far, the artworks for sale have been donated by other USU students and local artists who got involved because of their association with the members of the project.
But this group of guys have a unique way of working together that has resulted in a few successful local art shows and a website—still under construction—found online at artsavingtheworld.com, where the invitation to donate art for charities has been extended to anyone who is interested.
“We’re kind of like this band of misfits,” Hicks said of himself and the other two members of the organization, Chuck Sheya, 26, photography major, and Tron Arnold, 24, an English major who does photography as a hobby.
Hicks said when it comes to the business of organizing a fund-raiser this team of three tends to operate in a laid-back, “kind of half-ass” manner, holding meetings at random, in places like their kitchen or Myspace.
“Even though it is kind of thrown together at the last moment…we have learned quite a bit of what needs to happen and how to organize it,” Sheya said.
Hicks said that as busy, working students they prefer to keep things simple, no huge or extravagant shows.
“We just hope that people come and we get a chance to help somebody,” Hicks said.
According to Hicks the organization got started when the idea came to him last semester while he was working for The Boys and Girls Club of Cache Valley.
He needed to organize a service project and as a graphic design student Hicks has a personal interest in art.
Hicks began painting as a way to unwind during the late-night hours that he would find himself unable to sleep, but as the paintings piled up he needed a way to clear some space.
“So I thought why don’t I just sell these [paintings] and give the money to The Boys and Girls Club,” Hicks said.
Hicks decided he should include other artists’ work so he invited his fellow Aggies, Sheya and Arnold, to join him.
“I’ve always kind of wanted to do community service but never knew how,” Arnold said, “So when this came along and Miles offered it I thought it was a great chance, and at the same time we get to hang out and kind of share our art with everyone and get to include other people too.”
The idea was set in motion when the three friends arranged an art show in Nov. 2007 at the Bluebird restaurant to display the pieces for sale, which according to Sheya, were listed at “student affordable prices” along with a tip jar.
The couple hundred dollars they raised was added to a scholarship fund that The Boys and Girls Club have set aside to help low-income families pay the fees associated with the after-school program.
The success of the first show combined with feelings of satisfaction from service led Hicks and his friends to hold other shows in places like the Sunburst Lounge inside the TSC to raise money for causes like Camp Hobe, a summer camp designed for children currently being treated for cancer and their siblings, and other cancer research organizations.
Having the show at the TSC really helped raise more money because “by default people just see it and are interested, so they stop,” Hicks said.
They brought in approximately $500 for Camp Hobe who was “amazed at the amount of money we were able to raise,” according to Arnold.
“I think it’s really cool when you can give the people or organization money and they’re totally ecstatic about it,” said Hicks, “they just love the fact that someone cares.”
According to Hicks having the last show on campus apparently generated some publicity when a lot of students he has never met approached him with questions about when the next show is and how they can get involved.
“A lot of people are more than happy to donate their time and talents for a good cause,” Hicks said.
The next project currently underway for Art Saving the World will be a show to help raise money for Team In Training, the world’s largest endurance sports training program which trains volunteers to run in marathons, half-marathons, triathlons, and 100-mile cycling events that are held to raise funds for cancer research.
TNT is partnered with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and currently has a goal to raise $1 billion by the end of 2008, their twentieth anniversary year, and Art Saving the World wants to help them reach that goal.
Anyone interested in donating work for the next Art Saving the World show may email digital images of the artworks they would like to submit to donate@artsavingtheworld.com.
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