Raising awareness for LS

Women's health
1

Hi guys,

There has been some discussion around how we can help raise awareness of LS.  A few of us artists have already said we would be happy to donate a painting to go towards doing this.

i have spoken to Kelly Taylor from British Skin Foundation who was delighted to come on board. BSF is the only charity dedicated to skin research and all of their donations and fundraising events are crucial to enabling them to continue their work. They estimate eight million people are living with skin disease in UK. Some are manageable, others are severe enough to kill.

The thought is to get a gallery to get involved, along with media, raise some funds and more importantly awareness of LS both in UK and Australia.

Whether you you are an artist or not, any assistance would be great. Logistically, I'm in Brisbane and whilst modern technology can connect me it does have some drawbacks. 

Please advise how you would like to be involved. 

We we would need a spokesperson, someone to find a gallery, contact made to media someone to co ordinate, people to donate art. It can be as simple as making a suggestion on what you think would help.

From my side I am happy to ship over a painting, contact our current affairs/newspapers here in Australia and see if we could get a story out there.

I really hope some of you get behind this. I just don't think I can sit here and continue to do nothing.

 

2

Hi Deb. Not sure how i can help but am willing if needed. I am not a good organiser but can help. 

I have a friend who displays her painting at time in the Royal childrens Hosp. I know thats not much help but what about maternity/obstetrics wards? In hospitals. Each painting could have a write up about LS beside under whaterever but displayed as an information and public awareness program. That way every woman in a hospital would become aware and know where and how to find help. Does LS have a logo?  Maybe a comp for a pic that will go with a poster that can be used in dr surgeries?  Esp womens clinics. 

These are my thiughts only. 

Like i said let me know how i can help. 

Wilma. 

3

Thank you Wilma,

any thoughts or suggestions are great.  Hopefully we can get something happening that wI'll help people with LS. I'll keep a note of this and get back to you x

4

Hi Deb..I think at this stage it would be a good plan to decide how to even go about raising awareness...what is the very best way to approach it. Wilmas idea sounds interesting, and I think we need to focus on that primarily...ideas!

Once we have decided how to proceed, and once we are clear on that  we can then take it further, to the next step.  I have some artist friends coming round on Monday for lunch and I think I would like to discuss this with them and then come back to you..

What do you think.

 

5

Totally agree and great idea. 

6

Some intital thoughts

Deb you are in Brisbane I and several others are  in the UK Wilma is in NSW  others are in Canada Cuba USA Dubai Melbourne South America Cuba Germany and Italy who have contributed to this site

How do you envisage proceding - and where - how many galleries?

Tate Modern i suppose could be interested - they do quirky stuff. Are you thinking of a web gallery? I am not sure how to start - but i do know three artists locally who MAY be willing to donate  a picture

Would the Welcome Institute in London be willing to take this forward?

7

I have never bought anything on Ebay and know little about their ethos - could it be they would be involved in selling  under a charitable heading

Google and Yahoo host  health care sites  would an approach to the head honchos be constructive? Certainly here int he UK they have bad press because they avoid paying the proper amount of tax to the country- into billions£s could they be ashamed into making donations???

8

It certainly would be great to have a gallery like Tate on board. They would probably have a fairly influential mailing list as well. Or, we could look at a gallery here in Australia. I also like the hospital idea. The only inital drawback could be with a gallery they are set up hang work and with hospital we might have to do this?

To move forward I think firstly we need a name, logo? As we are trying to promote awareness probably something with LS in it. Suggestions girls/guys? A couple from me 'LS 4 LS - Lifetime Support for Lichen Sclerosus? LS Sisters in Arms. 

Secondly we need to know what sort of quantity of art we are looking at. I, maybe mistakenly, thought most of the artists on this site were in UK. There didn't seem to be too many in Australia. If your friends are interested and I'm going to approach a few here in Brisbane maybe we could look at Australia? Or do both simultaneously? 

Without knowing definate numbers of artists and donated art it would be hard to approach any venue. 

 

9

I think e Bay, Gumtree and similar sites are for people looking for a bargain. I like the idea of doing something on line as well but I am really not very clever with modern technology. I paid someone for my website. We would need to have a good quality photo of artwork, dimensions, frame, medium, title and artist - maybe a blurb with some relevant LS history? do we have any computer geniuses amongst us? Also how do we go about this. Should I put my email address on here so that we can start sending photos? 

This is going to be a very involved process guys but I really think we can do it!

10

You can see my art through artst.com.au Deb Brown

11

Hi Deb, 

I didn't manage to find your site, and I ended up looking at the work of an artist based in New York! I then found another  site selling wonderful spoons, with wonderfully designed handles, with an Aboriginal design, by an artist with the same name as yours based in Australia. I am not sure whether this is you or not...Sorry I am absolutely hopeless with technology!....lol !

Anyway I spoke with some of my fellow Artist friends, and they suggested that perhaps establishing a virtual gallery might be a good idea!  

Artists would submit a painting to somebody who is a whiz with IT, and who could place artwork on this site, with the objective of displaying artwork for sale, at affordable prices, for consumers who would like to support sufferers of Lichen Schlerosus,  and promote awareness of the condition.

    

The site could potentially be viewed and visited from people all over the world. The revenue from any sales, would go into a special fund, which could ultimately be used to promote awareness of the disease.

 Once the site is up and running, and displaying Artists work, it  could be promoted to many people, and some pieces of artwork could be chosen to be printed, and distributed with a an impactful message aimed at woman, and also potentially hospitals, doctors surgeries, and chemists. These outlets could consider placing these prints in prominent locations in their offices and waiting rooms etc.  

Also other Artists may want to help by submitting some of their artwork for sale to help the cause. The site would hopefully end up being full of beautiful artwork from all over the world!

One of my key concerns is, that because this is such a nasty medical condition, and therefore because people don't want to talk about it, the condition could be far more widespread than is currently thought to be the case! It is an 'ugly' condition, and when something is 'ugly', it sometimes doesn't get the support it deserves. The current Ebola virus outbreak in parts of Africa, is a perfect example, as although it has been covered on the news a lot, many people feel uncomfortable talking about it, or even admitting that  the disease actually exists!

I am happy to help you were I can, as I said I am hopeless with IT, but have been known to come up with the odd good idea!..... lol!...which may be helpful.

 

12

I too have a niece who has a beautiful nude painting of herslf. Its so beautiful as she has not hidden any curves but discrete in that it is a silhouette of a woman. It would make a great logo for our cause if you are interested in looking at it. 

Wilma. 

13

Yes please! 

14

Not me. Try googling art st brisbane. There are about 20 of us on there. 

I really like the idea of a virtual gallery. It would mean that we could all be involved as well. The  way art st has set up web page, anyone wanting to buy your art deals directly with the artist. If person lives within an hour free delivery otherwise shipping costs negotiated. Try and check it out Karen because the same set up could work well.

Kelly Taylor, Fundraising Officer for BSF is happy to get involved with us. If anyone knows of any other research foundation please let us know.

Im also not good with IT - guess we both know where our expertise lies 😝

 

15

Deb, I finally found it..nice work!  I love Buddha's tear...

16

Thanks Guppy - you are the only person to like it. My family hate it thinks it is to confronting

17

Will get onto her to send it to me then. She is very environmentally concious so its on cardboard but i consider it beautiful. 

18

FYI

The following is an excerpt of a response from Kelly Taylor Fundraising Officer British Skin Foundation with thoughts along the line of Suedm.

"unless you are able to get a venue for free, or virtually nothing, I would strongly suggest you do it online. There are a few ways you would be able to do this including using an auction site such as eBay, we are signed up as a charity and are able to sell items and we are able to receive a percentage or all of the profit".

and in closing,

"but whatever you choose, we will support you as much as possible via social media awareness and generate funds".

 

19

Deb...Sounds good..have you managed to find someone that is whizz with IT to help with this.?

20

Sued was going to speak to her friend.about it - busy time of the year for everyone. Hopefully we can progress in the New Year. Hope you had a great Christmas!