Giving a gift of art supports social justice

Holiday shoppers can select affordable artwork for their loved ones AND donate to the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) to support social justice, thanks to an ingenious plan developed by 11 artists from Roslindale, Hyde Park, and Jamaica Plain. ARTGIRLZBOSTON is an Instagram site that exhibits and sells paintings, drawings, and monotypes at discounted prices of $15 – $100.

      ARTGIRLZBOSTON has raised over $2000 in donations to the PPC. The artists donate their artwork and buyers make direct donations to the PPC for the price of the artwork. The PPC organizes across the US to address poverty, inequality, voter participation, systemic racism, ecological devastation, and war and militarism.

     “We all feel very strongly about the massive inequalities in our country, and are always searching for ways to merge our political and art lives,” said Ginny Zanger. Some of the artists have been donors to The ART Connection, which placed original artwork in social service agencies in Greater Boston, until it closed earlier this year. Other members of ARTGIRLZBOSTON, organized successful art sales last year to benefit the Boston Immigration Justice and Advocacy Network.

     One of the ARTGIRLZ has developed art-making programs for families who have lost loved ones to addiction. Several others worked with students learning English to create a huge quilt of images made by recent immigrant students to represent their family lives, culture and countries. “If sales from my work can support the organization that carries on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. into the 21st century, then I will donate what I can,” says ARTGIRLZBOSTON member Mary Harman. The artists also absorb the costs of shipping.

                ARTGIRLZBOSTON is a collective of 11 woman artists who have collaborated on various projects, critique each others’ work, and exhibit together. Some make explicitly political work, while others do not. The scale, styles, and media used in their work range widely, and they find that that diversity stimulates their individual work. The 11 ARTGIRLZ are: Myrna Balk, Mardi Reid, Gail Bos, Nancy Marks, and Ginny Zanger of Jamaica Plain; Anne Turley, Mary McCusker, Mary Harman, Terry Boutelle, and Phyllis Bluhm, of Roslindale, and Sasja Lucas of Hyde Park.