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SOME OF OUR OUT OF TOWN ARTS FRIENDS
Art for Arf’s Sake was founded on the support of local artists who loved not only our mission, but our appreciation and commitment to the creative arts and the people who make them. Twenty years ago some local arts event asked artists to donate their art and volunteer to bus tables at the event. Humane PA recognized our artist friends as the donors and patrons they are and recognize their creative donation and invite them to the Arf’s Art as our guests, just like our friends who made a financial donation.
Thanks to our mission and our deep appreciation for the creative process- we are a creative organization whose pallet is animal and community programs, after all- we have been fortunate to inspire the generosity of some pretty great folks from outside our community, too. You may even recognize some of them! Here are a few of our more far flung friends who have contributed original works to Art for Arf’s Sake. They know they are in good company with our local supporting artists.
BETSY LEWIN
Betsy Lewin is the Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator of Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type and its sequels, Giggle, Giggle, Quack, Duck for President, Dooby Dooby Moo and Thump, Quack, Moo, in addition to a number of other picture books, including So, What’s It Like to Be a Cat? and Two Eggs, Please. Betsy has contributed a original works and studies to Art for Arf’s Sake every year since the first Art for Arf’s Sake in 2006, including some pieces created especially for our auction bidders. And she is a gem. Her support and devotion inspired Humane PA to name it’s renovated adoption center in Lancaster County after her and her late husband, also a fantastic artist (and a teenage professional wrestler! It’s true, google it!). The Betsy & Ted Lewin Adoption Center for Cats & Critters is home to a gallery of Betsy & Ted’s original art.
JOHN DOE
John Doe is a living legend. As a member of X, one of punk’s most influential and important bands, he charted a new course for American music. He has continued to chart new territory as a solo musician and playing with The Knitters, The Flesh Eaters, and many others. He’s also a great actor and has been in many films as well as on television.
John first helped the Humane PA by donating maybe the most unique and personal item of a past auction: his retired touring guitar case! Well stickered, heavily abused, and complete with a letter written to the winning bidder from whatever lonely hotel room he was in while on tour (OK, we don’t know if he was actually lonely but wanted to set the mood). Since then, John has continued to support HPA and helped gather support from his pals in other legendary LA bands including X, The Flesh Eaters, The Blasters, & Los Lobos.
WES FREED
Wes Freed is best known for the comic Willard’s Garage and his album and poster art for the Drive-By Truckers. Wes’ surreal work is inspired in large part by Appalachian folklore and the people of the Shenandoah Valley. Wes and his wife Jyl take care of an astonishing number and variety of animals, including what they describe as a “constant parade of foster babies” from the Richmond (Virginia) SPCA. The world and animals in need lost a true friend when Wes passed away in 2022. Visit Wes’ website here for more!
JASON ISBELL
Jason Isbell rightly follows Wes Freed on this list since he got is start in the Drive-By Truckers. Then he went off and became a bona fide A-Lister! It’s as much a shock to us as it might be to you that he supported Art for Arf’s Sake and HPA’s mission. Not because we’d expect anything less of him- he’s a downright sweetheart- but because he’s so darn busy! Jason, if you’re reading this, thanks again- and share us with some of your friends!
SUE COE
You may know Sue Coe as the internationally recognized artist who focuses on issues of social justice and who has been shown in such prestigious galleries as the Hirshorn Museum at the Smithsonian. We prefer to think of Sue as the internationally recognized artist who has had several pieces in Art for Arf’s Sake! Check out more of Sue Coe’s work here.
DONATO GIANCOLA
From La Primivera to The Lord of the Rings, Donato balances modern concepts with realism to bridge the worlds of contemporary and historical figurative arts. He teaches at the School of Visual Arts in BYC and exhibits from San Diego to Moscow, where he performs demonstrations in oil paint and lectures on his aesthetics.
JOHN FLANSBURGH
One of the “two Johns” that comprise legendary rock band They Might Be Giants, John Flansburgh provided us with one of the most amazing items ever featured in Art for Arf’s Sake. John gave us a hand-painted – with White-Out – ukulele modeled on his cat, The General. It turns out this Grammy-winning artist has a soft spot in his soul for animals and helped quite a few out with his high-bidding item.
But the story of John Flansburgh’s ukulele doesn’t end there. An anonymous bidder purchased the ukulele after a fast and furious bidding war that raised more than $1,100 for the animals! Around the time of the next Art for Arf’s Sake, we discovered a series of mysterious, soulful, and evocative videos on YouTube featuring the uke placed among bombed-out ruins in Sarajevo, the war-torn capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Those videos have since been removed, and the identity of their creator is still a mystery.
JIM COLLINS
Jim Collins’ best-selling management book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t was vital to Humane PA’s transformation. It was only natural that we’d ask this management artist for an original artwork for Art for Arf’s Sake. Jim thought about it and responded “Painting isn’t my hedgehog.” If you’ve read his books, you know this was exactly the right answer. Instead, Jim donated an art kit and a signed copy of his book for a supporter whose hedgehog was painting.
ELI YOUNG BAND
The Eli Young Band has been nominated for a host of awards, including a clutch of Academy of Country Music Awards, where they took home the Song of the Year accolade for single “Crazy Girl,” while they were also up for Grammys for Best Duo/Group Performance and Best Country Song. They soon returned to the studio to record sessions for their fifth album, and in 2013 the fruits of their labor appeared in the shape of 2013 single “Drunk Last Night,” which raced to number one in the U.S. Country Airplay charts.
KOSMO VINYL
Kosmo Vinyl is a longtime associate and sometime manager for The Clash, as well as being associated with The Jam, two legendary English bands of the 1970s and 1980s (and we know that one is the only band that matters). He can be heard introducing The Clash at Shea Stadium on The Clash’s live album, Live at Shea Stadium. His impressionistic reading of one of character Travis Bickle’s monologues from the film Taxi Driver can be heard on The Clash’s Red Angel Dragnet. So how stoked do you think we were when he donated one of his incredible collages to the Auction?
EUGENE CHADBOURNE
Over more than thirty years of a seemingly endless variety of recordings and performances, Eugene Chadbourne has become about as eclectic a musician as you could ask for. In addition to music, Eugene paints for his own edification, and we’re proud and grateful that he donated original artwork to Art for Arf’s Sake.
MAX ESTES
Max Estes is an Oslo-based American freelance artist whose illustrations, short stories, and comics have been published and exhibited in the US, Canada, Spain, the UK, Germany, and China. Max has donated several wonderful items to Art for Arf’s Sake.
WMMR PRESTON AND STEVE SHOW
Their show has been named “Best Morning Show” by Philadelphia Style Magazine and “Show of the Year” by Radio & Records Magazine. That’s pretty cool, but it turns out they love animals, too! They shared a chance for a past winning bidder to hang out with the show and watch how it works! Rage on, Preston and Steve!
JANET STEVENS
Janet Stevens is a nationally known, award-winning illustrator. She lives in Colorado with her husband, two dogs and two cats; her two children, Lindsay and Blake, are grown. Lately, she has made writing a family affair; many of Janet’s recent books have been written with her sister Susan Stevens Crummel, a former math teacher. She was one of the earliest to support Art for Arf’s Sake!
JEFF STUMHOFER
Jeff Stumhofer is an artist for ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Addition, FOX’s Kitchen Nightmares, and SPIKES’ Bar Rescue! The SPIKE connection is purely a coincidence.
JACK LOGAN
Last on the list but first in our hearts, Jack Logan is an American singer-songwriter who hit it “big” while creating in the Athens, GA area. He created two comic books in the 1980s, starring Peter Buck of R.E.M. as a superhero, and the connection to Peter Buck led to Twin/Tone Records’ Peter Jesperson’s interest in releasing some of Logan’s material. He also drew a comic book that was included with LP copies of the Coolies second album, Doug. His first release was the critically acclaimed Bulk which contained 42 songs from the approximately 600 Logan had recorded from 1979 to 1993. Both Bulk and Logan’s next album, Mood Elevator, received four stars in Rolling Stone. Logan has been a long-time artist supporter of the Humane PA, not to mention being a gem of a guy, too.
