The Art of Sharing

Inspired by the work of PWRDF

By Ana Watts

The art of sharing comes easily to some. They are generous souls. Sometimes they are even artists, like Dale Cook of St. Paul’s, Rothesay. On behalf of the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) she painted this evocative scene in northern Ethiopia based on a photograph by the Rev. Marian Lucas Jefferies. The 16 by 20 oil on canvas painting is traveling throughout the diocese, and at Diocesan Synod 2009 in Saint John next month it will go to the highest bidder in an on-line silent auction. All the proceeds of the auction will go to PWRDF partner the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and for every dollar donated to the Foodgrains Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency will donate four more.

This ambitious support project, dubbed The Art of Sharing, began one Sunday morning when Canon Albert Snelgrove from Rothesay exchanged pulpits with Marian from Upham. She included slides of Africa in her sermon on the work of PWRDF and its partners. Marian has been to Africa on several occasions representing sharing agencies like PWRDF, the Foodgrains Bank and the Co-op Movement. Dale was unaware of many of the things Marian told the congregation at St. Paul’s that Sunday morning and immediately wanted to help with that work. She especially wanted to raise money for the Foodgrains Bank because of the four to one matching funds from CIDA. She talked Marian how she could use her artwork to help.

They initially decided to auction the painting at synod at the Trade and Convention Centre in Saint John June 4-6. Then they decided it was unfair to limit the opportunities for others to bid, so it is now a diocesan-wide effort. 

The current high bid is updated constantly on a dedicated auction webpage as well as the Diocesan PWRDF website. A photograph of the painting, information about the Foodgrains Bank and PWRDF and an e-mail address <specialpwrdf at yahoo.com> for your bid are there as well.

The painting will be on display at Synod in Saint John and the name of the winning bidder will be announced at the synod banquet at Rothesay Netherwood School on Friday evening, June 5.

The photograph Dale chose to reproduce is a mountain scene in northern Ethiopia that shows walkers passing each other in what seems an endlessly barren land.

“Dust and rocks, dust and rocks — the people of northern Ethiopia walk the endless fields and roads high in the mountains and deep in the valleys,” says Marian. The land they travel looks barren — old and worn out. The people look determined. They must be, because they walk so far. She was fortunate enough to ride in a new Toyota Land Cruiser while she was there, but she saw people walking every day. She saw them, but she couldn’t see where they came from or where they were going.

Ethiopia isn’t all dust and rocks, though. There is rich, fertile land and it bears coffee, tea, sugarcane, bananas … corporate cash crops exported to wealthy countries like ours. “But the people of Ethiopia are left with the dust and rocks,” says Marian. “Fair? No. We owe them so much.”

Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of Canadian church-based agencies, is a fitting recipient of the proceeds of the Ethiopian scene. It works to end hunger in developing countries by increasing and deepening the involvement of Canadians in this task — just as the Art of Sharing is a fitting title for this local support effort. Dale also plans a series of paintings on PWRDF themes and a percentage of the proceeds from those paintings will also go to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

The painting is copyright Dale Cook and it was photographed by David Little Photography for the promotion of The Art of Sharing.

 

 

Diocesan Communications
28 April 2009