Art and Artistry

Here we are, folks, only a week out from the ending.  Pat is in San Francisco, hanging out with the likes of Paul and Storm and Vi Hart, so today’s only-a-little-envious blog comes to you courtesy of the Worldbuilders Team.

A lot of people see what Heifer does as simply bringing animals to those in need, and while that’s a part of it, there is so much more.  They work with the people in the community, to be sure they’re bringing the right sort of animals that will benefit everyone and work well with the local climate.

In Tanzania, they worked with people to introduce the zero-grazing method of raising livestock.  One of those people was Huruma Mhapa, pictured below, who had been living in poverty until 1993, when she received one Heifer dairy cow as part of a women’s group project.

Tanzania (2)

That’s her bringing a mountain of feed to her cows.

Zero-grazing is a process where livestock are kept in an enclosure and food is brought to them. The enclosure provides protection from the elements and other animals, while allowing room for roaming and exercise. Manure is sold or used as fertilizer, and land can be used for farming instead of grazing.

Today, Mhapa is a regular lecturer at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro. She farms 11 acres and cares for four dairy cows — all descendants of that first cow.

“The cattle project brought love in our family, improved our livelihoods, and allowed our three children to go to school,” she says. “I consider these cows as part of my family. I wake up at 4 a.m. At that time, my children are not yet awake, so the first ones to be greeted by me in the morning are the cows.”

Mhapa is the ideal example of Heifer International’s cornerstone value, “Passing the Gift.” To date, she has trained more than 4,000 farmers directly, including those from Heifer projects in other countries, including Malawi and Kenya. Many thousands more have visited her farm to learn about zero-grazing and organic farming.

Mhapa’s hard work has also brought social change to her community. “The way the men in this village perceive women has changed,” she says. “They see us, the women, as very important and they now cooperate in increasing the income of our households.”

So much more than just giving a cow.

*  *  *

Today, we bring you some great fantasy and genre art.  Most of it is going to be auctioned, to be sure it goes to a good home – but we’ve got a couple in the lottery.

Fantastic Flying Books - large

This is a print of a still from the award-winning short film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, signed by the directors, one of whom (William Joyce) is also the author of the original picture book.  It’s a beautiful story, depicting the relationship between a man who loves his books, and the books who love their man.

This will be going into the lottery, for any book lover to possibly win.

  • A special edition print of  The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.  Signed by illustrator Joe Bluhm.

Fantastic Flying Books Character

Also in the lottery, this is a great special-edition print of the character sketches made by artist Joe Bluhm for the film.  It’s not easy to come by, but the folks over at Moonbot Studios sent it over for the fundraiser, so we thought we’d make it available in the lottery.

Now, on to the auctions:

  • Auction: Numbered print of Miss Martin from the 2013 Literary Pin-Up Calendar.  Signed by artist Lee Moyer.

Wolf Lady

Like the one in our Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman blog, Lee has sent us a couple more of his beautiful limited edition prints of pin ups from the 2013 calendar.

This one is of Cersei Lanister, from George R.R. Martin’s pin up.  If you want a full sized print of this pin up, head over here and bid.

  • AuctionNumbered print Miss Carey from the 2013 Literary Pin-Up Calendar.  Signed by artist Lee Moyer.

Tattoo lady - full

Here we have the pin-up of Phèdre from Jacqueline Carey’s Phèdre Trilogy, looking beautiful as ever.  This is also signed and numbered, and available to bid upon over here.

  • Auction: Vincent Chong art pack: Prints of Saint Darwin’s Spirituals and Trick or Treat.  Both signed by Vincent Chong.

Vincent Chong Prints

Vincent Chong does some great cover art, a lot of which ends up on Subterranean Press’s books.  When his prints showed up, we were extremely happy to have them.

If you want these beautifully chilling prints, be sure to bid on them here.

  • Auction: Limited edition Wasteland video game cover art print.  Signed by artist Barry E. Jackson.  One of 500.

In Exile print

Here we have something extra cool:  Numbered 60 out of 500, this is a print of the original cover art for Wasteland.

Yeah.  Pretty sweet.

It’s signed by the artist, and there were (and will be) only 500 printed.  If you want it, you need head over and bid on it before it’s gone.

  • Auction: Framed Princess Leia Art Nouveau.  Signed and donated by Karen Hallion.

Hallion Leia

Karen Hallion has been pretty great to Worldbuilders.  Geeks everywhere can be seen with merchandise of her art, and she lets The Tinker’s Packs sell prints of it as well.

This is a particularly beautiful print, professionally framed, dated, and signed by Karen  herself.  It’s clever and fun, and would look great hanging on just about any wall.  If you want that wall to be yours, bid on it here.

  • Auction: Two tickets the Roundabout Theater’s revival of Caberet.  Includes a tour of the backstage.

cabaret-door

This is really cool, and when actor Bill Heck offered them up to us, we were floored.

Bill, who is playing the role of Cliff in this production, has offered up two tickets to see Caberet at Studio 54, also staring Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams.  He’ll take you on a tour of the backstage, and maybe go out for drinks with you afterward.

The date is negotiable, so if you live in or around New York, or would like to make plans for a trip out that way, you’ll be able to make it work for your schedule.

To bid on this awesome experience, head over here.

  • Three Auctions: “All Stories Are True” necklace, Filigree Dragon copper necklace, and a Copper Dragon shawl pin.  All handmade by Amber from Serpent’s Dance.

AllThreeCloseup

Finally, we have three auctions for you from one wonderful donor.  Some of you may recognize her style from last year, when she donated a beautiful Bookwyrm Pendant which sold out before we even posted the blog.

This year, she hedged her bets and sent us a few more things.  And we put them all up in auctions, so that more people who really want it could have a chance at them, as opposed to whoever happened to be up and on the store 10 minutes before we posted a blog.

So, if you’re interested in the “All Stories Are True” necklace: bid here.

If you would like the Filigree Dragon Copper necklace: bid here.

And if you would like the Copper Dragon shawl pin: bid here.

We’re in the final stretch folks.  Remember, all donations of $10 or more made before February 2nd at 11:59pm CST to our Team Page will be entered into the lottery for one of over a thousand prizes of books, games, art, and more.  Keep an eye out, because we’ve still got a lot to show you before that time comes…

 

This entry was posted in Worldbuilders 2013By Amanda12 Responses

12 Comments

  1. Posted January 27, 2014 at 12:02 PM | Permalink

    Sweet! good to see my stuff is already doing well in the auctions. I’m so pleased to have been able to donate again this year!

    • SporkTastic
      Posted January 27, 2014 at 10:49 PM | Permalink

      I would really like to buy a necklace from you, but cannot pay the prices these auctions are setting. D’oh! >.<

      Thank you for your beautiful contributions! :-D

      • SporkTastic
        Posted January 27, 2014 at 10:50 PM | Permalink

        Oooooo, an etsy page. HUZZAH!

        • Posted January 28, 2014 at 7:26 AM | Permalink

          yup! I do have an etsy shop. I actually have a ton of things to update it with, but haven’t had the time to photograph everything. I need some worker elves or something to help with those things.

          I am honestly very surprised by how high the auctions already are, in their first day being listed. It’s quite exciting and I’m happy that they’re doing so well!

          • SporkTastic
            Posted January 28, 2014 at 9:41 AM | Permalink

            Worker elves are in high demand these days.

            I’ve already picked out one of your necklaces as the perfect gift for a librarian friend of mine, but it will be a few paychecks before I can spend monies on such. (Dog-eared monies, bills are no fun.) I’d *love* to see “All Stories Are True” worked into another piece (that’s the one I’d buy if the auctions weren’t crazy – which is *great*, BTW, but…monies).

            You make beautiful things! Thanks for sharing them. :-)

  2. Posted January 27, 2014 at 3:35 PM | Permalink

    I love the jewelry you made Amber!!

    Also you are twice as awesome now in my books, since we share a name, and it’s quite obviously one of the best. :)

    • Posted January 27, 2014 at 5:12 PM | Permalink

      Thank you!

      Yay, another Amber! We do indeed have an awesome name. We should form a club.

      • SporkTastic
        Posted January 28, 2014 at 9:42 AM | Permalink

        Also, pick up The Chronicles of Amber if you get a chance. :-)

      • Posted January 28, 2014 at 3:17 PM | Permalink

        Amber’s Only Club.

        LOL.

        Yeah, I’ve had Chronicles of Amber on the To Read List for a while a now. Ever since one of my Goodreads friends read Nine Princes in Amber….which I thought was really funny in a completely inappropriate and non-related way.

  3. kdculb
    Posted January 27, 2014 at 10:30 PM | Permalink

    What happened to SerpentsDance other post?

  4. SporkTastic
    Posted January 27, 2014 at 10:56 PM | Permalink

    The thing I love most about this post is that it confirms another payday between now and the end of the fundraiser. What makes me most wistful is that Serpent Dancer’s contributions quickly got out of my price range, and what makes me most jealous is that Pat is spending time with Vi Hart…whose brain is a wonderful, amazing place. :-)

  5. AlistairM
    Posted January 28, 2014 at 5:55 AM | Permalink

    Huruma carries a scythe, that’s pretty bad ass.

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