Virtuarte.com

If you follow VirtuArte on Twitter (http://twitter.com/virtuarte) you would know that earlier this month I was in Santa Fe to attend the International Folk Art Market. While there I had the opportunity to meet Rebecca Lolosoli, a Kenyan artisan participating in the Folk Art Market. After talking to her for a while I found out she is a very remarkable woman.

Some of you are probably thinking she must have started writing this post last week and forgot to change the title. I know the Presidential Election was last week. Who could forget. This is not a reminder for that election; it is a request for you to vote in another kind of election.

I recently received an e-mail from a friend with the title: You've been sent a link to start The Girl Effect. I wondered what The Girl Effect was. I thought maybe it was a new social network, a website for women entrepreneurs or a website about new trends that have been started by women. I opened the e-mail and found the following:

Girl Effect, n. The powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society.

In January I had the opportunity to meet and subsequently have gotten to know Lynda Marks, Director of Retail Operations at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. I was introduced to Lynda because, for some time she had been thinking about starting an initiative to promote international women artisans. On the 1st of May the Museum shop launched the International Women Artisans Initiative. What a pleasure it has been to watch this Initiative grow during the year.

In an earlier post I said many beautiful products made by artists/artisans in the developing world are located in countries and often in remote areas where their work is seen only by locals or a few tourists. Many of these items are being made by women who live in rural areas that are trying to earn an income to support their families and improve their quality of life. These products are frequently expressions of traditions and customs that are slowly dying out because there is insufficient incentive -- economical and cultural -- to pass these traditions/customs on to the next generation. I also said it was my belief that through the increased awareness of their art and the ability to generate an income, artists/artisans (men and women) would be encouraged and have an incentive to continue their traditional weaving, carving, sculpting, and painting and pass their skills onto the next generation.

During this start up phase of VirtuArte, I have had the opportunity to meet a number of people and organizations working with artists, artisans and cooperatives in the developing world. I have heard some great stories about why they got involved, how they found the individuals and/or groups they work with and their experiences along the way. Pauline Lewis has one of those stories. She is the owner and "all-in-one bag" boss of oovoo, a unique wholesaler of hand-embroidered handbags. I first met Pauline at the New York International Gift Fair in February.