'Sunflowers For Ukraine' Painting Finds A Home In Newtown

NEWTOWN, Pa. — “Sunflowers for Ukraine,” an original piece of art created by 39 Council Rock students, has found a home.

Newtown resident Stommy Blaugh submitted the winning bid for the piece, which was created as a fundraiser for 25 refugee students who are living in and attending the Council Rock School District.

Bonnie Porter, who led the sunflower painting project, and Paul Salvatore, who helped organize a gift card fundraiser through the Newtown Rotary Club, were on hand at Countryside Gallery to present Stommy with the artwork.

It’s all part of “Sunflowers For Ukraine,” a summer campaign which is raising support for the refugees through the sale of posters, an auction of an original piece of artwork and a gift card collection.

Porter organized 29 students to paint the picture of the sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine. Each student worked on a small part of the painting.

The finished painting was raffled off to the highest bidder. Smaller, poster sized prints are still available for purchase at $15 each.

“I’m very happy because it was such a wonderful thing to do,” said Stommy of winning the original painting.

It’s also with a little bit of irony that Stommy won the watercolor painting. Her daughter, Camryn, who usually helps with art projects organized by Porter, was away and unable to help with this one. She was disappointed to say the least, said her mom.

“Anything that Bonnie does we want to hop on board because she does such great stuff. My daughter, thanks to Bonnie, won quite a few Grange Fair ribbons,” she said.

So one of the first things Stommy did after picking up the painting was to ask her daughter to add her own touch to the canvas - a ladybug.

The painting, which Bonnie describes as “vibrant and full of hope,” is signed on the back by all 39 students who did all the painting.

Bonnie thinks it’s wonderful that the painting was won by the family of one of her students.

“I was really excited to see who won,” said Bonnie. “Whenever an artist does a piece it’s hard to let it go. In this case it’s going to a wonderful home and family.”

While the original painting has found a home, you can still own a piece of it, said Bonnie. The gallery continues to sell its “Sunflowers for Ukraine” prints for $15 each.

“And if people want a larger print, I’m happy to make that happen,” said gallery co-owner Michael Hammer. “Obviously it won’t be the original, but it will be akin to it.”

Hammer, who works with a lot of artists, said what’s really cool about the painting is that 39 different students worked on the project.

“Knowing how varied you can get with the same color palette, it’s amazing how consistent everyone was in doing this painting,” said Hammer.

According to Salvatore, the Rotarians are also continuing to accept $25 gift cards to Wal-Mart and Target along with Visa Gift Cards through the end August. They can be dropped off during regular business hours at the Newtown Hardware House at 108 South State Street and at the Countryside
Gallery at 2 South State Street.

All the proceeds from the sale of the prints and the auction of the original art will go to the Rotary Club, which will use the money to purchase additional gift cards for the students.

“The beautiful thing is that the print and the original art was done by the children of Council Rock and that it’s going to help their classmates,” said Salvatore. “The kids thought this was phenomenal when we told them what we were doing.

“These kids came here with virtually nothing but the clothes on their backs,” said Salvatore. “One family literally walked from the Ukraine into Romania. They had nothing. Their fathers are all in the Ukraine. They had to stay and fight.

“Imagine if that were you and you had to leave your home, leave your father and husband and go to a strange country,” said Salvatore. “A lot of these kids had some traumatic experience. How can you not feel for the children? The least we can do is to help.”

Next weekend, Salvatore said a picnic will be held for the kids and their mothers at Crossing Community Church.

Salvatore encourages everyone who reads this to help out. “Think of it as an act of kindness for an individual you’ll never meet, but you know it’s going to make a world of difference in their lives.”

As they are collected, the gift cards are being distributed to the refugee children through the school district’s social workers, who also help Salvatore every December with his annual Angel Tree project.

“They’ve seen the horrors of war. Now they need to see some kindness. They need to know that people care,” said Salvatore.

Salvatore gives his wife full credit for the fundraiser. She was the one who told Salvatore about the refugee children living in the district and encouraged him to get involved