10 – 28th May 2008
Art for Rosie invites you to participate in a bittersweet opportunity to assemble a unique art collection, dispersed across the world, which will create for little Ava Rose Evenden Donald a lasting celebration of the short life of her irreplaceable father, Ninian Fraser Donald.
Ninian was killed in a traffic accident in London on 4 May 2007. Part of the legacy of his extremely untimely death is to leave to his partner Kate Evenden, his sister Saskia, his mother Sheila Fraser Donald and his father George the responsibility of sharing with Rosie, throughout her life, their memories of her father. These will come through exciting stories of his adventures in India, South America, Morocco or the Caribbean, hilarious anecdotes of his years in London with a spirited group of friends, and fond, warm recollections of a creative, generous, affectionate, loving and ultimately surprising man who proved himself a gifted and doting parent.
Art for Rosie intends to add another dimension to Rosie’s understanding of Ninian’s life. It brings together in visual form the creativity, imagination, compassion and support of artists from the length and breadth of Scotland, from England and from across the globe. These artists, photographers, printmakers, poets and musicians were friends of Rosie’s Mum and Dad, or of her grandfather George Donald, a distinguished painter, printmaker, member of the Royal Scottish Academy and for many years a senior academic at Edinburgh College of Art.
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George Donald has asked his friends in the Scottish and international art world as well as friends of Ninian’s and Kate’s to contribute to Art for Rosie.
For sale at an exhibition generously hosted by the Open Eye, a leading contemporary art gallery in Edinburgh, and on this website, the show consists of an unparalleled selection of specially commissioned works by artists both extremely well known and emerging. All have responded to the challenge of making for Rosie small-scale pieces that will be sold and then make their way into private or public spaces all round the world. Art for Rosie will be a unique collection, carrying with it both a wave of good will towards two-year-old Rosie and her family, as well as an awareness of her irretrievable loss. Art for Rosie is also a celebration of her father’s life, well lived and in a generous spirit.
Each purchase from the show or www.Art4Rosie.com will add a little practical security to Rosie’s future and its inevitable material needs. Each purchase will also cherish Ninian’s memory, weaving around it over 200 works of art, all of which will be photographed. These works will then become part of Rosie’s world-wide network of memories, a visual record of the cultural heritage passed on to her by her creative and very loving Dad.
