Recent Painting

This is a painting of my mother who died a little over a year ago after battling cancer. I miss her very much. She is in the middle between her two siblings.

Art Camp '10

Our 2nd annual Art Camp was a success! In August, 13 young artists

filled the studio for a week of fun in the sun.

Art Camp is a fundraiser for the Togo Well Project.

Here's some of the week's highlights:

We drew self-portraits then created them in clay.

Two of my high school art students came to play with us.

They're fabulous!

We made body collages...

and learned how to mix colors.

Tristan, a local singer/songwriter and Art Camp mom,

was back by popular demand and played for us during lunch

and at the end of the week potluck.

She even put together a songbook just for Art Camp!

She's also pretty fabulous.

(Thanks to Jeff Cosloy for these two pics)

Lots of art was made and lots of friends were made, too.

Thanks to all for such a great week!

Zebe well photos

The well in Zebe is complete!

Many thanks to all the people who have helped fund this well: art camp families, people who have purchased my art and donations people have made.

Merci mille fois to the people of Zebe for their contributions and to DJINADJA C.U. Frederic of the NGO ADHD for the organization of this project and the supply of photos.

Below is a photo essay of this project.

The extremely hard work of digging this well by hand. It's 3 meters deep! Amazing.

The dirt road to Zebe is long, about 15 miles from the main route, and is usually either washed out or full of huge pot holes. Getting a large cement truck down this treacherous path is difficult and costly.

Many hands make light work.

The area around the well stays clean and the wall detours animals.

The women and children no longer have to walk long distances.

So many lives improve...

With access to CLEAN water!

A well in the village of Zebe!

We're very excited to announce that a well is being dug in the village of Zebe. This small village is located just next to Game and the friendly people there are known for their amazing drumming. Here is a photo of some of the people of Zebe, including the Chief.
The process begins by looking for water.

As supplies arrive, the heavy bags of cement are unloaded...

and the metal bars.

The children of Zebe are very excited to have a well in their village. They will no longer have to walk a long distance to access clean water.

Many thanks to all that have contributed funds to make this happen. Those who have either bought artwork, participating in Art Camp or have donated through the website, your contributions truly make a difference. We continue to collect funds for a well in the neighboring village of Tomegbe. We welcome and encourage further donations. Find out more at www.lorishippy.com

Turning and Churning

I've been in the studio lately making new wares for Spring. Yay Spring! My lilacs are busting out their blooms and I love to leave the garage door open on these sunny, yet cool days to catch the sweet breezes. I've had requests for larger bowl sets so I've been experimenting with those as well as bowl sets that hang. Stay tuned!

Art Camp '09

This past July, we held our first ever Art Camp to help raise money for our Togo Well Project.
Many people helped make it a success including our good friend Rebecca who brought over loads of fun materials including a puppet stage and Tristin, an amazing singer songwriter, who made our lunchtime sing along a highlight of the day.
We had 12 young artists ranging from age 3 to 14 who drew...
played in the park....
had fun with color...
made life-size body collages....
wrote a little about themselves...
and had lots of fun playing in clay.
Overall, we raised $775 and are very close to our goal of $4000 for a well in the village of Zebe. Many thanks for all the contributions. I look forward to Art Camp '10!