A little bit of art on this note

A group of local artists is using a new project to spread art and benefit local non-profit groups.

Art Cards for a Good Cause, a line of note cards, was started by the Oakmont Art Alumni Association and art teachers Theresa and Greg Barry to make local art accessible to the community and to keep former Oakmont art students connected to their hometowns.

Proceeds from the cards will go to local non-profit groups - the first being the scholarship fund named in honor of Myja Parviainen. Parviainen was a member of the Oakmont Art Alumni Association before her death in a car accident on I-495 in January.

"Myja was the one helping to set this up for the historical society," said Theresa Barry.

Parviainen was working with her former art teacher and other members of the association to design the themes and the back of the note cards, as well as set up a relationship with the Ashburnham Historical Society to be the first beneficiary of the card sales.

Theresa Barry said the Historical Society members were very willing to let the first printing go to Parviainen's scholarship and said the organization will be the beneficiaries of the second printing.

"All of the artwork is coming out of the two communities," Theresa Barry said.

The first set of cards will feature artwork from when alumni members were students at Oakmont Regional High School. Some of the original pieces still hang in the Barrys' classrooms.

"Ever piece of artwork has a story behind it," Theresa Barry said. "We want people to see it and enjoy it.

"The idea of getting the kids' work out has been something Greg (Barry) and I have wanted since we started working together."

She said the art teachers have often been asked by different groups for permission to use student art work in local benefits and fundraising efforts. This will also be a way for the alumni association to keep working together, Barry said.

The Association, which has about 100 members who have graduated from Oakmont over the last eight years, is focused on keeping students thinking creatively, Theresa Barry said. Many of the alumni are not working in art related fields but want to continue their connection to the community, she said.

Greg Barry said putting the cards out might help former students remember that art touches people.

"It's not just the little space on their table it can affect more," he said.

The note cards are sold in themed-boxed sets which include six individual cards and matching envelopes. The themes of these sets are animal, still life, floral, landscape/seascape and scenery. The boxes are sold at the Athol Savings Bank located on Main Street in Ashburnham and cost $12. Checks should be made payable to the Myja Parviainen Scholarship Fund.

The next sets of cards will be released to the Ashburnham Historical Society as a way for that organization to raise money to help repair their building. These cards will be released this spring and will be sold through the society and its members.

The Barrys, who live in Ashburnham, said they have donated the costs of the printings because they believe in the project and the concept.

Neither the artists nor Oakmont Visual Arts Department receive any portion of the proceeds from selling these cards. The artists are credited through the information about their work that is printed on the back of each of the cards.

To help out or offer to sell Art Cards for a Good Cause, e-mail Theresa Barry at tbarry@awrsd.org.