‘Art is the Healing Force’

Allied Artists Launches Fundraising Campaign to Benefit Wildfire Recovery

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

One group of artists with nearly three decades of history in Pacific Palisades is looking for a way to give back to its community and help heal through art.

Allied Artists of the Santa Monica Mountains and Seashore has launched the “Art is the Healing Force” fundraising campaign to benefit wildfire recovery.

“Our member artists donate paintings to auction on our Instagram page,” Allied Artists Board President Barbara Freund explained. “Bids start at $100, [and] 100% of sales proceeds are donated. To date, we have raised $1,170.”

Freund, who lives in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County along Piuma Road, said she has been experiencing “survivor’s guilt” after not losing her home in the Palisades fire—though it was damaged. She described jumping into action through art, trying to find different ways that Allied Artists could support ongoing efforts related to fire recovery.

“We’re trying to figure out ways to use art to help heal,” she described. “It’s not going to be the only thing that heals, but it certainly helps it.”

Some of the works that have been sold in the auction have been pieces by Ruth Askren, Allied Artists board member and paint-out chair, and Donna Goldstein.

Askren contributed a piece with a view of the Palisades. When it sold, she matched the bid to double the fund being donated.

Goldstein contributed a painting of the historic Will Rogers house, which was destroyed in the fire.

Freund has contributed five paintings, two of which had sold at the time of publication, with the three others still available.

“The two sold are ‘Happy Trails’—painting of two figures on horseback with [a] dog trailing behind at Will Rogers State Historic Park—and ‘Beach Boys’—two dogs playing … at Will Rogers State Beach,” she described. “The paintings still available are ‘Keeping Pace’—[a] woman and dog running on a trail—and two of the view of the Palisades across Pacific Coast Highway from Will Rogers.”

When a donated painting gets sold, the contributing artist then gets to select the entity who receives the funds—as long as they were affected or are aiding those affected by the fire. Donations have been made to the California Wildlife Center and Skydog Sanctuary in Malibu, as well as California State Firefighters’ Association.

“The artists are donating and not getting a dime,” Freund explained. “Every little bit counts.”

Equally as important, Freund continued, has been the response from those who are bidding on pieces, “many of whom have lost their homes, and see these paintings of our local area as a reminder of their favorite places and places that will be beautiful again.”

The fundraiser is ongoing, Freund explained: “We continue to post paintings are they are donated … we’ll keep is going as long as we have art and artists [willing to donate].”

Allied Artists has been “painting and preserving the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area for 25 years,” read its website: “Our mission is to promote the appreciation of our environment through art, and to support conservation and maintenance of the national, state and local parks and open spaces in Southern California.”

“The members of Allied Artists organize exhibitions of their paintings in order to raise money and increase public awareness of the endangered land that they depict in their paintings,” read its website. “They collaborate with local, state and national agencies to present several art shows a year in local and natural settings in and around the recreation area.”

Over the course of a typical year, Allied Artists hosts several art sales and exhibits—including at Palisades Village Green—which each donate a portion of proceeds from sales to conservation and environmental organizations, including the upkeep and maintenance of the Village Green.

The next show Allied Artists will participate in will be at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas, which will take place on Sunday, May 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“The group will present an art exhibit and sale featuring 20 local artists displaying representational landscape and seascape paintings of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area,” according to information about the event. “The 156,000-acre recreation area stretches from Runyon and Franklin Canyons in Hollywood to Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County, and contains over 500 miles of trails, including the 67-mile long backbone trail that follows the crest of the coastal mountains from Will Rogers State Historic Park to Point Mugu State Park.”

The sale will support Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, National Park Service and Western National Park Association.

Allied Artists also host paint-outs on the second Saturday of each month—which have continued since the Palisades fire, most recently at Sycamore Cove Beach in March. Freund said the organization is trying to find locations that are relatively “easy for everybody” to get to.

The next paint-out will take place at Satwiwa/Rancho Sierra Vista at the intersection of Lynn Road and Via Goleta in Newbury Park on Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

“If there are people who could use some art therapy, we do demos and we will support people,” Freund said, adding that for the paint-outs, “if I know in advance if people are coming, we’ll bring extra supplies.”

Freund and Askren have both participated in Homes in Memoriam, a collective of artists, led by Palisadians Ashley Miller and Amy Beemer Lev, creating pieces in the likeness of homes lost in the recent Los Angeles area fires free of charge.

As part of the conservation efforts, Freund said she plans to find ways for Allied Artists to participate in things like trail cleanups, giving back to some of the spaces that have inspired their work. She said that while rebuilding efforts are underway throughout the community, “Mother Nature will be working full-time” to restore the area’s beauty.

“This is such a difficult and challenging time for everyone—several of our artists also had homes destroyed or damaged—and we hope that sharing our art can help with the healing,” Freund concluded.

The Allied Artists fundraising auction is ongoing at instagram.com/alliedartistssantamonicamtns. Additional information can be found at allied-artists.com.