It's been a crazy couple of weeks! Events, press, art, interviews. And all for a hand print. Well more like 800 hand prints. It's crazy the ideas you get in the middle of the night. And suddenly I'm creating a non-profit.
If you want THAT whole story, click HERE.
If you haven't heard of the Handprint Pledge Project yet, let me introduce you. I'm a Utah artist who had an idea where a whole bunch of people would paint their hands and press them to a black canvas, pledging the following...
"I pledge to no longer stay silent on the issues of inequality, racism, and injustice, to listen, learn, teach, and to always be part of the conversation."
And that's just what happened. We took these canvases all around Utah, to protests, marches, events...people even came to my home....to pledge and lend their hands to this enormous community art project. Because of you, we were able to raise quite a bit of money to donate to the NAACP with one canvas. I hope another canvas will soon be up where leaders can see it regularly and remember the community they serve and the conversation we're having now around race.
Utah, you've been so supportive of this idea! You've taken your hands and offered them up to this art project, creating an incredible visual (three actually) memorial of love and hope and community in a time where people feel so divided.
And now we take it a step further. When you purchase a print here, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to an organization that assists in racial equality. We hope you'll purchase a print to remind you of your pledge and to continue to show support as a community. Thank you for taking action! I hope you'll invite your friends to take action as well!
I hope this won't be the only thing we hand print here at The Handprint Pledge. My hope is to grow and pledge to support our LGBTQIA+ friends as well. Watch for more information on that in the future. It's important for me to use this platform to show support in our community to our brothers and sisters no matter what your race, gender, religion, orientation, or any other characteristic is. But this is where we begin.....
Michelle Volz