ART WITH PURPOSE

DOGS AND ROCKS

Alicia Guckenheimer has lived and worked in San Francisco for the past 20 years and she has never strayed far from her favorite subject matter, animals.  Her love of animals continually inspires her artwork. She creates one of a kind photographs, paintings and sculptures, giving the viewer a lesson in compassion and empathy for all living things.  Alicia is an animal advocate focused on the impending extinction of our mammals and aquatic life along with the welfare of our furry friends: dogs and cats.  Educating audiences of all ages, Alicia hopes that her art will inspire compassion for all animals.  Alicia’s sculptures and paintings can be found in private collections throughout the US and Canada. One of her largest animal sculptures “Unlikely Friends” is currently on permanent display at the Sacramento Children’s Hospital.

This year Alicia made a conscious decision to make all of her #ARTWITHPURPOSE. Everything she develops has a back story and with the intent for the viewer to walk away with a lasting impression and/or the message of the need to help better this world. A huge dog lover, Alicia has spent many summers volunteering with her daughter at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. They also have volunteered at their local dog shelter in San Francisco, Family Dog Rescue. With so many sweet dogs needing good homes it was at these two places that she came up with the idea to combine her art with her love of dogs in need of a home.

Five longer resident dogs at Family Dog Rescue were chosen. Alicia painted portraits and these images were decoupaged onto rocks and hand placed around San Francisco. Her hope is that someone will find them and be called to adopt one of these sweet dogs seen on these rocks (or another dog waiting for their human). On each rock, not only is there an image, but on the other side reads Adopt Don’t Shop as there is NEVER really a need to go to a breeder. There are so many beautiful dogs even pure breeds looking for their human.

Alicia hopes the finder of these rocks will not only be educated by their luck, but maybe even become and advocate and/or a volunteer at a local shelter. The other experiment is to see how far these rocks travel and who will eventually find them? She asks each finder to hide the rock again and to post on social media a little blurb about where they found it and maybe who they are. The only clues are two hashtags: #Ilovefamilydogs and #artwithpurpose. The finder of this little rock will have to ‘WANT” to search out why the universe chose them to find it…. Alicia is a firm believer in synchrodestiny!

Family Dog Rescue : www.ilovefamilydog.org

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary: www.bestfriends.org