Giving Canvas

I am Meenakshi Sinha. I moved from the Silicon Valley to the Seattle area with my family in 2015. I left my long-time job as an economist when we moved. Fast forward four years and I am an artist, although I am quite hesitant to say it out loud. Still teaching myself how to paint, but then no artist is ever done learning. I do not have a formal education in art and I had no intention of taking up art even as a hobby until my husband gifted me an acrylic paint set. I told him I was going to return that useless gift (in less harsh words), but decided to give it a try one day just to please him. I couldn’t stop at that first canvas and this is how my art journey began.  

By fall of 2016, my art started looking a little presentable and I thought of an experiment. I put one of my paintings up for an online auction on my Facebook page and declared that the proceeds would be donated to a local non-profit, Old Friends Club, where I was volunteering at that time. The auction was a success. The process was very rewarding on many fronts—I had created a piece of art nice enough for someone to want, and more importantly, I had successfully employed my new skills as an artist to make a contribution to a cause I supported. Once again, I could not stop at just one auction. It was addictive. I did a few more, with proceeds going to other local non-profits, as well as the Seattle Children’s Hospital. 

In March of 2017, I felt that it was time to give more form and structure to my art auctions and to invite other artists to join the effort. I created a Facebook page, The Giving Canvas, to offer my art as well as other artists’ art to raise funds for charitable causes. A new piece of art is put up every week on this page for an online auction, and the artist chooses the cause that gets the proceeds from that auction. Over the last 2.5 years since the launch of The Giving Canvas platform, more than 100 paintings have been auctioned and almost $45,000 has been raised for various good causes. Causes have included local charities, international non-profits, as well as personal fundraisers. Contributing artists have ranged from new artists such as myself, members of a memory care center and preschool children, as well some established local artists. The Giving Canvas page on Facebook has more than 1,300 followers and I am happy to see the number growing every day.

While these statistics are great indicators of our success, I feel that there is much more to The Giving Canvas than the numbers. The platform helps raise awareness about different issues and worthy causes. It brings joy to art lovers when they win a piece they love and contribute to a worthy cause at the same time. The artists, too, feel joy as well as fulfillment by contributing their art towards causes they support. I have experienced immense pleasure and satisfaction in managing this platform. My skills as an artist have improved greatly in the process and I have made many new friends in the area, which are just a few of the nice perks of my job. The artists who have contributed, people who have participated in the auctions, and friends who have supported the effort will agree when I say this: we have all received more in the process than we have given. The outpouring of blessings and wishes we get from those who benefit from the auctions make the effort worthwhile and provide the momentum needed to keep us going. The Giving Canvas is a happy and heartwarming place on Facebook, and we are making a difference—one canvas at a time. I invite you to join the effort. Find us at https://www.facebook.com/thegivingcanvas