The 2nd Annual Tattoo Art Auction to Benefit the Wounded Knee District School, Friday March 11, 2016
Eight of Swords Gallery announces plans to host a second fundraiser to benefit Lakota students from the Wounded Knee District School (WKDS) on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge reservation. The event, called The Warriors’ Fund, is slated for Friday, March 11th at 7:00 PM and will showcase original artwork from nearly fifty top-notch tattooers, including New York City veterans like Timothy Hoyer, Virginia Elwood, and Stephanie Tamez. Work from Cheyenne Randall, a native artist who has gained popularity in recent years with his “shopped tattoo” photographs under the name @IndianGiver, will also be featured, as well as Wounded Knee Skateboards, a group that was instrumental in building a skate park on Pine Ridge, and raises awareness through artwork and skate decks.
Last year, the Warriors Fund raised $10,000 to support the WKDS; specifically, to stock its food pantry and fund training for suicide prevention counselors. The WKDS serves 134 students ranging from kindergarten through eighth grade. Reservation schools throughout the country are often geographically isolated, contend with a severe lack of funding, and have some of the highest dropout rates in the nation. Adults and children alike are faced with addiction, crime, and suicide –– but one of the most immediate issues for the students at WKDS is hunger. While every child qualifies for free meals during the school day, the need is greater at home.
With only a single convenience store on the reservation and the nearest grocery store a staggering 70 miles away, Principal Alice Phelps took matters into her own hands and started a food pantry that she runs out of the school for families that are the most in need. And that is what the Warriors Fund aims to keep stocked.
To view more artwork click here for our online gallery!
About the Organizers
The Warriors’ Fund is organized by Patrick Sullivan, along with tattooers Dave C. Wallin and Betty Rose, Eight of Swords’ owner and manager, respectively. Wallin, a Dallas native, has been tattooing for twenty-three years, with over half of them spent in New York. He opened Eight of Swords in 2011. Betty Rose is a ten year veteran of the business and began working at Eight of Swords in 2013. She has since helped organize previous events and is the creator of LadyTattooers.com, an online community spotlighting women in the tattoo industry.
Contact
Patrick Sullivan pat@thewarriorsfund.org (347)563-6651
Instagram @warriorsfund
Visit www.thewarriorsfund.org
