Collage Mania/FiberArt for a Cause

A wonderful woman I found out about on the QuiltArts mailing list, Virginia Spiegel, organized and holds an ongoing fundraising effort for the American Cancer Society called FiberArt for a Cause. To date, the organization has raised over $170,000! One of the events held by FiberArt for a Cause is 'Collage Mania,' an online auction of donated collages that include fiber. Last year's Collage Mania raised over $13,000 in two days. There is a minimum donation of $40 for any piece, but my guess is that people often donate much more than that.

This year's Collage Mania will be held May 5-7, and I donated the following piece:

It's a 10" x 8" collage of fabric and fiber, with a couple of metal accents, and it's mounted on a canvas. I call it 'No Time Like the Present' and I made it in memory of my dad, Richard MacLaren, who passed away many years ago from cancer. I honestly believe that the present really is a gift, and there is no time like now to celebrate life. I juxtapose stark black, white & gray with bright red flowers and green 'swishes' in an attempt to graphically represent how one can celebrate and appreciate the beauty in life even in the midst of something as bleak as a cancer diagnosis.

To learn more about Collage Mania 2009 and see the list of participating artists, go to:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageMania2009.html