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Flaxbee

(13,661 posts)
Tue Sep 2, 2014, 01:57 PM Sep 2014

An Act of Dog - An Artist's Effort to Foster Compassion (worth reading)

(cross-posted in the Lounge and Pets forums)

An Act of Dog is building a forever fund and 100% of the donations go towards the salvation of shelter animals.
You can donate to his shelter efforts: http://anactofdog.org/collections/donate

Please spread this message on your various social media outlets - Facebook or whatever. Thanks.

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http://www.dailygood.org/story/847/an-act-of-dog-an-artist-s-effort-to-foster-compassion-michelle-burwell/

Artist Is Painting 5,500 Euthanized Shelter Dogs to Cultivate Compassion

MICHELLE BURWELL • JUL. 2, 2014

5,500 dogs; that’s the estimated number of shelter dogs killed every day in the U.S. About one every 15- 16 seconds. But one artist is hoping to change those statistics by cultivating a new generation built on compassion.

Artist Mark Barone use to spend his time revitalizing cities ravished by blight. Now he has given up everything to paint 5,500 portraits of euthanized dogs in order to memorialize their life, illustrate the enormity of the loss each day, and to halt the practice. The undertaking was bigger than he could have ever imagined. When he’s finished, he will have painted a surface area over half the size of the Sistine Chapel. “And Michelangelo had assistants,” Mark added.



But Mark knows that no-kill shelters work. Because, he says, when killing’s no longer an option, people become resourceful. So in the fall of 2011, Mark and his girlfriend Marina Dervan, gave up their entire lives, moved across the country to Louisville, Kentucky and began dedicating all of their time, energy and money into what would become An Act of Dog. Mark is in the studio painting everyday, seven days a week, an average of 10 dogs a day. Each portrait, which includes the dog’s name and why they died, is painted onto a 12×12 inch wood panel. As of today he’s painted over 4,800 and on track to complete all 5,500 by this fall.



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An Act of Dog - An Artist's Effort to Foster Compassion (worth reading) (Original Post) Flaxbee Sep 2014 OP
KnR for visibility and, one hopes, to encourage potential donors. tblue37 Sep 2014 #1
It's enough to just wring you dry, the way people daily abuse animals and toss them aside Flaxbee Sep 2014 #3
An Act of Dog Polly Hennessey Sep 2014 #2
that's wonderful, Polly Hennessey! Please let others know Flaxbee Sep 2014 #4
Bookmarking for payday. 99Forever Sep 2014 #5
kick Liberal_in_LA Sep 2014 #6
Oh my. SammyWinstonJack Sep 2014 #7
K&R demmiblue Sep 2014 #8
What a beautiful tribute BrotherIvan Sep 2014 #9
Great work they're doing... GReedDiamond Sep 2014 #10

tblue37

(65,340 posts)
1. KnR for visibility and, one hopes, to encourage potential donors.
Tue Sep 2, 2014, 02:07 PM
Sep 2014

Maybe he could do cats after he finishes the dog portraits. Then ferrets, rabbits, and ducks, since they end up in shelters waiting to be killed because irresponsible people don't understand that a living being is not a temporary toy to grace an Easter basket or a short-term science experiment so their kids can witness "the miracle of birth" by way of litters of young that will be dumped at the shelter as soon as they are weaned.

Flaxbee

(13,661 posts)
3. It's enough to just wring you dry, the way people daily abuse animals and toss them aside
Tue Sep 2, 2014, 07:13 PM
Sep 2014

Thanks for the reply, tblue37.

Flaxbee

(13,661 posts)
4. that's wonderful, Polly Hennessey! Please let others know
Tue Sep 2, 2014, 07:13 PM
Sep 2014

I like the idea of a museum devoted to compassion.

BrotherIvan

(9,126 posts)
9. What a beautiful tribute
Tue Sep 2, 2014, 10:18 PM
Sep 2014

We can all help to educate our family, friends & neighbors to spay and neuter their pets. That is the best way to cut down on these beautiful animals being killed in shelters. I have two feral cats ready to go to get fixed tomorrow. One will be returned to the feral colony and the other little kitten is going to her forever home tomorrow! They are both gorgeous Bengal cats, we assume mother and daughter, and the mother must have gotten out of someone's home. A rare, purebred cat doesn't just show up by accident. But sadly, she's been out too long and now has to live on the streets. But the kitten is not afraid of people yet and will make a gorgeous pet.

But so many people think that treating pets badly or abandoning them is ok, because they're just animals. Or they think they can survive out on the streets or in the wild. It's so heartbreaking to see how many pets are euthanized every day. This is a wonderful organization.

GReedDiamond

(5,312 posts)
10. Great work they're doing...
Tue Sep 2, 2014, 10:48 PM
Sep 2014

...the paintings are well done and very compelling.

I kicked in a few bucks, wish I had more to give.

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