Monday, Dec. 5: THIS SALE HAS ENDED! We have a skeleton inventory (3 sets!) Thank you All who purchased. We will print more cards probably by spring or before but these were the last of the archival inks & papers if not these designs as well. The bottom design is still available in original form and the top left makes a beautiful print. Thanks again!!

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

If you've been following "The Journey with Grace" you may be aware that things are seriously percolating with GraceArt–that's the originals, print and card line of my 17-year-old daughter with autism, Grace Walker Goad– www.GraceGoad.com. The scale got tipped this morning when I said "yes" to our seventh exhibition invitation since May–six since October, all unsolicited. (I was waiting a year to re-rev GraceArt as Grace approaches transition. The Universe seems to have another idea. Yesterday, I got "the memo.")

Quick recap: In addition to her usual annual participation at this Vanderbilt Kennedy Center-based show, GraceArt showed in autism art exhibits in Washington state and in Soho in October. This spring she will have at least three solo shows, two in April and one in May. (I've been contacted about the fourth venue–a local gallery, but it is yet unconfirmed.) The May exhibit will be at the Green Hills Library. And commemorating national Autism Awareness Month, GraceArt will show in Hillsboro Village's new hip Hot and Cold of the Bongo-Java family. For three weeks that month, she will also be the featured artist with autism at a museum in Georgia. More details to come as I secure them.

That last invite just came in yesterday morning. Which got me to thinkin': We gotta get busy! And that's where you come in. We broke our budget when we printed our fourth and last batch of GraceArt cards. Our printing costs went up by half–necessitating a small price increase in the cards–plus and we have lots of framing to do before April! I need to recoup those funds to prepare for these exhibits. We will print more cards, but these will be the last set that will be archival inks and papers, and depending on prices, these may or may not be the last fold-over-style cards we print. You can frame these, as you will be able to future ones, but again these are fade resistant. All proceeds from GraceArt originals and prints go into her future independent living fund. Her card line, however, covers the expenses of printing the cards and framing, etc. 

Help us sell these newly printed archival-quality cards! We have 50 sets. I've not even assembled them and put them into bags yet, but I will and I'm offering them to you because we need to sell these. (Did I say that already?) So, in a set you receive 8 cards. There are four designs with two of each design. The cards and envelopes are made of archival quality paper and printed with archival inks. You can frame four of them, split them up, give them as singles, etc. You decide. Each set of artisan-made, locally produced (in Nashville) cards by a teen (mine!) living with autism is $25.

And, because I'm so nice and a little anxious to recoup costs and get additional work framed by April (repeat-repeat), if you are in Nashville, I will deliver them to you to save you shipping cost. (Ack! I can't believe I'm doing that to myself!) If you want them mailed, I will foot the postage for the first packages of three. We've had a frustrating snafu with our web design, so I regret we are still not e-commerce at GraceGoad.com. So, you'll have to place your order with me through email: lahammett(at)gmail.com and I will send you a paypal link so that you can still have the ease of paying online. Deal?

Now, don't you want to support an about-to-transition-to-adulthood really cool artist with autism (who's also really sweet and adorable), create autism awareness (there's a blurb on the back of the card about autism plus a bonus postcard about the artist,) do your shopping online during this cyberweek, support an artisan who's also local if you live in Nashville? (Say "Yes!") Your conscience will thank you and so will we.  Buy now!

And one more nice thing I'll do for you, here's a link to the Autism Society of Middle Tennessee's website where you can send a GraceArt card to someone online. For Free! Thank you! I look forward to receiving and fulfilling your orders!

———————————————————————–

About the cards. These designs were produced in 2006 when Grace was 12. Because of set-up costs, we've never done additional designs. But that's probably changing soon. Here's what's become of these  originals. From top left to right: Multimedia Collage I–unfortunately the original was inadvertently ruined during a solo exhibition, but this makes an excellent print as a card or enlarged. Multimedia Collage II is one of Grace's most popular pieces and  was purchased as a part of the Tennessee state artist's Collection, which resides at the state museum. Bottom, left to right: Ribbon was originally purchased by Grace's maternal grandfather for her maternal grandmother. After her grandmother died in 2008, the painting was the featured auction piece, selling for $450 at the Autism Society of Middle Tennessee's Pieces of Hope benefit. Multimedia Collage IV is still available as an original. For more of the backstory on GraceArt, you can read about how Grace's gift was discovered at age four and the rest at GraceGoad.com.

Please share this blog link with your friends who may be interested in helping our cause by cyber shopping local, artisan and supporting an individual on the autism spectrum!