Exhibiton/Fundraiser for the Art+Everywhere Foundation
Featuring artwork and wearable art by Deborah Read
We raised over $3,000 in order to sponsor our Artist Residency Program
“Take what you need, give what you can” was both the invitation and the experiment at the heart of this exhibition and fundraiser for Gallery RAG and the Art+Everywhere Foundation. Over $3,000 was raised, but more than that, it became a living gesture of trust, friendship, and generosity.
All the work—costumes, small pieces, and large canvases—was created by Deborah Read, who asked a simple question: What do you need? Perhaps art objects can act as friends, or as guides on our uncertain journeys. Books and trees have always been her companions, and she wondered: could the art she makes offer companionship, too?
There was no price tag, no transactional expectation. Instead, visitors were invited to look around, to notice what called out to them—like a vial of light to lodge in the heart—and to take it home. Pay what you can, because the money will go on to benefit others in real, tangible ways. Give if you are able; if you have nothing, and something speaks to you, take it. It was meant for you.
At its core, this project explored art as a radical act of generosity—an exchange that sustains both the maker and the receiver, the gifter and the gifted.
