New challenge

I was asked by Dr. Pia Salk to make a piece for an Adopt-a-Pet art show benefit to call attention to the plight of shelter animals. Pia was at the Manifest Hope show and had stickers of a very poignant design Shepard Fairy did for her cause of his childhood pet, with the word "ADOPT" done in a style similar to "HOPE". The organization has been calling for our new President to adopt a shelter animal. My dear companion Lucy is a shelter animal. I felt like I wanted my piece of artwork to be informed, so I am talking to a friend of mine this week who volunteers at a shelter. I also talked to a friend at work who does rescue for a breed of dogs. I have some good ideas starting to formulate. It's important to me for my piece to have a specific call to action.

Pia also mentioned some topics:

• City shelters also house many other kinds of animals like rabbits, pigs, hamsters, chickens and goats, to name a few.
• The foreclosure crisis is resulting in many more animals being relinquished to shelters.
• Adopting from a shelter is truly a form of 'going green'- in many ways, these pets are being recycled, which is far better than creating new ones (this will be one of the main themes of the show)
• Consider creating a piece in honor of a companion animal you had as a child or who shares your family now.
• Older animals, 3 legged animals, and pit bulls are all among the animals that languish in city shelters and have less chance at being adopted due to errant beliefs and other factors. Yet they make wonderful companions.
• Black animals are often overlooked and as such are among those who are least adopted and most often killed.