ART FOR WATER
October 13, 2015
Autumn Art Tour benefits Clean Water Projects
How can buying art in Auburn support borehole well drilling in Zambia? Find out by visiting Leslie Warren’s studio during the FREE Placer Arts Open Art Studios Tour during the weekend of November 13-15.
Warren’s expressionist art in watercolor and acrylic is enlivened with the energy she expresses when she describes her work drilling borehole wells and creating environmental education murals in Africa and Central America.
Since 2008, the organization she founded, International PEACE Projects, has funded 26 boreholes in eastern Zambia. Over 31,200 people enjoy access to healthy clean water because the boreholes replace surface water collection in little villages across eastern Zambia. Because tainted water collected from surface sites or from open pits contributes to the death of 11% of children under 5 years of age in Zambia, Leslie estimates that many hundreds of lives have been saved thanks to the borehole wells.
With each piece of art that Warren creates and sells, funds are set aside for a new bore hole in Zambia or a clean water education mural in Nicaragua. All proceeds of sales are dedicated to these clean water projects.
So, if you buy one of Warren’s colorful and energetic works during the Placer Arts Autumn Art Tour or any time, you will be directly supporting clean water improvements that improve the quality of life for so many, save lives and educate.
Warren’s studio is located in Christian Valley, Auburn, and is only 2.8 miles from I-80 and identified at site 13 on the tour map. Her art will be on exhibition throughout the Autumn Art Tour weekend from her rural studio.
In addition to viewing art at her studio, Warren invites visitors to pick up a paintbrush and participate in creating a large-scale acrylic landscape of the American River Canyon. The finished piece will be auctioned-off at a gala “Clean Water Cocktail Party” at Warren’s home this fall. All proceeds will, of course, be spent on clean water projects!
It costs only $7800 to drill a borehole well and create a community garden serving up to 1200 villagers in Zambia. It costs only $1200 to create a clean water mural and an outdoor education garden in Nicaragua. Each project saves lives and makes the quality of life for those served so much better.
Imagine what it would be like to have to walk though dangerous terrain to reach a river to fill a bucket with tainted water and then walk home with that heavy bucket filled with water over many miles of wildland. How much better it would be to have a borehole in the village, where a simple hand pump draws fresh clean water from the ground.
Mothers have more time to cook and garden and care for children. Children have more time to study their lessons and play. Fathers have more time to tend the family garden plot, play with children and build things that may be bartered or sold in the village. Spending many hours each day hauling water is very difficult for families.
Visit Warren’s Meadow Studio during the Auburn Art Tour weekend. Learn more about International PEACE Projects. Come to paint our beautiful American River Landscape. Buy a stunning and original work of art! It is all happening at Warren’s Meadow Studio on November 13-15th.
For more information and directions to the open studio, pick up the FREE Auburn Art Tour Directory at the General Gomez ARTS and Events Center at 808 Lincoln Way, Auburn, or call 530-885-5670. To learn more clean water and International PEACE Projects email internationalpeaceprojects@gmail.org or visit our web site www.internationalPEACEprojects.org.
