Gimme Shelter - an art site to help end homelessness

my dark angel protects me from all that goes bump in the night by Joe Scarano

Gimme Shelter - An Art Site Helping the Homeless

I ran across this site a while back and spent many hours marveling at the art and artists who display their work, like the piece at right by Joe Scarano, all done on cardboard boxes in a variety of artistic media.

Here's the gist, from the "About" page of the Gimme Shelter site itself:

My family and I visited the beautiful city of Toronto this winter. Like many trips before, we were absolutely amazed at the development of more and more billion-dollar condo projects. Each one promised more luxury than the next.

Starting in the sky and working down towards the foundation of Donald Trump's newest tower, my amazement turned to dismay when I saw a homeless woman (she could've been my age for God's sake) warming herself on the subway grate directly in front of the picture of this soon-to-be luxury high-rise.

When I got home, I quickly became interested in figuring out how these people have fallen through the cracks. Yeah, sure, there's the obvious connotation that these people have done something to deserve to be where they are. But how do they begin to get out? Do they get out?

I came across a show "This Side Up" which is the brainchild of Steve Tenebrini, Jeremy Boyd and Mike Maher. I thought, "Hey what a great concept - having "street" artists (I can't come up with a better classification) help out people living on the street." I wanted the show to come here to Buffalo, and then, to Toronto. And then, who knows where.

I put out some generic "feelers" to see who might be interested - and to my amazement, this entire group of artists all emailed me back almost begging to help. I'm still hoping to "piggyback" on the original show - so for the time being, we're "Part II".

The concept is simple - transform a piece of cardboard no larger than twelve inches on any side into a piece of art. The cardboard is a fitting medium for the cause since it is currently the primary source of warmth and shelter for our world's homeless. We're looking to change that.

If you're able and willing, we're looking for artists to contribute and for galleries (throughout the US, UK, Canada and Europe) who are willing to donate gallery space for a week. We're trying to find a publisher to print a catalog of the works for sale at the shows and at the end of the "tour" the works will be auctioned via eBay. All proceeds from the shows, the books, and the auction will be distributed to non-denominational charities in each city visited.

Many thanks go out to everyone who has volunteered thus far. Special thanks go to Adam Neate, Bryan Odiamar (Peabe), Daniel Goffin (idle) and Chris Zachary for getting the site up and going.

Spread the word. Cardboard is for boxes.

- Greg

Looks like the last entries on the site were a while back, but I think the cardboard art pieces are for sale, and there are hundreds of links to the artists who contributed.  Like Pbase, this is a site you can get lost on.  The National Coalition for the Homeless is the primary beneficiary of all funds received.  Good works = good works.  Go. Visit. Buy. Help.