UM artists seek to aid African orphans

Would you like some photos with your coffee, or maybe some watercolors with your bagel?

Four University of Montana artists hope that you do, as they will hold an art show and silent auction Saturday night at Bear’s Brew Coffee House on Helen Avenue. The show features art from various media, including photography, watercolors and oil and acrylic paintings. The students are looking to raise enough money for a summer trip to Africa to help build an orphanage. 

Motivated by a lifelong interest in Africa, UM freshman Shane Bell decided to turn that interest into action.

“We’ve all been inspired to want to do something in Africa and help out any way we can,” Bell said. “It’s totally going to change our lives.”

Bell and his three friends, sophomore Katherine Walter, sophomore Lexi Klenow and sophomore Jordan Schnurr, plan to go to the AIDS-ravaged Kalomo region of Zambia for five weeks this summer, which will cost each of them $3,500 for flights and other expenses.

After coming up with several fundraising ideas, Bell and his friends hit on their mutual talent for art. They each made about 10 to 20 pieces to be auctioned, and some that will be sold at set prices.

Bell expects the smaller pieces to sell for $20-25, while larger framed pieces are priced at $50. Reprints of the original works will also be for sale.

“We just wanted to make fundraising a little easier,” said Klenow, the project coordinator. Klenow said she visited Africa last summer and saw a need to help the underprivileged.

“Americans are in this little bubble,” Klenow said, “and we don’t realize that there’s so much more we could do.”

For each of the artists, the desire to do more runs deep. Bell even hopes to one day move to Africa to photograph and write about its hardships. But for now, he has to concentrate on the task at hand, raising money and awareness in Montana for a far-away cause.

Bell said he realizes it may be difficult to get cash-strapped college students to purchase art, but that isn’t his main concern.

“We don’t want to pressure people to buy anything,” he said. “We just want people to come out and show support for the cause.”