I am seeking funding to further my art as offers to exhibit are incoming however present income is extremely limited and consumed by maintaining my household needs as a widow on low income.
My hobby started just prior to the sudden passing of my handicap/wheelchair bound husband. During surgery his lungs were damaged requiring a double lung transplant. Not the outcome one would expect following a hernia repair. We were together 37 years.
He wanted a drone. He never asked for anything. The drone enabled him to see what he could no longer get to, gave him focus beyond disease/disability and spend time outside in the forest region. We learned to fly together and he took me to my Aerial Photography Classes in 2019. He passed just 3 months after.
I said I’d never fly again. I never wanted to return to working in a hospital either. Yet here I am —artist by day, aide by night. The forest became my canvas, nature my peace of mind, photography my focus and presenting my art became publications, nominations and awards.
Since April of 2021 I have worked diligently to develop a bio, heal my heart and possess immense desire to make this a new life, a new career. But I am facing a wall. At my current occupation, they took away premium pay for picking up extra days / understaffed shifts. The effort I had been making to take on extra work days to fund my future was taken away. My current income pays for my home and utilities.
I am now at 4 years of hard, unpaid, cost bearing work to promote my art. I not only developed an amazing bio but became a master in artistic photography - multi published (16 times), multi drone festival nominated (6 times) multi awarded (42 times), national & international awards, featured in news, a music video and an under privileged high school drone teaching program in Pittsburgh. I have had gallery shows and have both fine juried and curated art.
I am a minimalist: minimal equipment, minimal time, minimal training yet I maximize my potential.
At present, I am awaiting my show date for an exclusive gallery in Times Square NY in 2026 that I accepted prior to the loss of my overtime. This gallery opened doors to other invitations that at present I must decline. The cost is minimal but not affordable to me.
Please consider helping me to fund: license fee, art printing & framing, transportation fees, application & training event fees, upgrading minimal equipment, website & business development, advertising costs.
People often upgrade digital photography equipment and drones. I would also be delighted with used equipment for I have accomplished all of this with bottom line basics. Any and all advice is also welcomed that would help to promote my art.
Thank you kindly
Organizer
