How To Give It: four inspiring art initiatives

Little Proba
New York designer Alex Proba, a one-time art director for Nike, is making a name for herself with a bold and organic graphic style. Matisse-like forms in vivid hues make up her murals for hotels and homes, and also grace a range of furniture, objects and textiles. Rugs are a speciality, and for her latest range she has handed over the design reins to a group of 20 children aged between four and 10.

“When Covid-19 hit, I turned to Instagram and asked my followers to submit collages they made with their kids during quarantine,” says Proba, whose favourite designs have been translated into made-to-order woven rugs (from $425). “If the design used glitter paper, I used a shiny soft bamboo silk, and for the regular craft paper parts I chose New Zealand wool. So now they all have different textures as well as shapes.” The results are as joyfully vibrant as Proba’s own designs, plus all proceeds go to Save the Children and The Young Centre for Immigrant Children’s Rights. studioproba.com

Cure3
At Bonhams London from 5 September, more than 90 slick Perspex cubes will be on show as part of the third Cure3 charity exhibition. The 20cm3 boxes were given to artists such as Anish Kapoor, Conrad Shawcross and Idris Khan, as well as fashion designers including Simone Rocha, Giles Deacon and Molly Goddard. Creative responses include Roksanda Ilincic’s Colourful Mind, which places a bundle of white cloth covered in splashes of colour inside the cube, and Chantal Joffe’s Self-Portrait (Wax Head), which uses the cube as a vitrine for her self-portrait sculpture. The pieces will be sold online from 8 September, with prices ranging from £500 to £40,000. All profits will be donated to The Cure Parkinson’s Trust. cure3.co.uk

Artists Band Together
Shepard Fairey, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger and Luchita Hurtado are just four of the 15 artists who have produced original bandana designs for this campaign supporting grassroots “get out the vote” programmes in the US. With some states closing voter registration 30 days before the 3 November election, the initiative is aimed at inspiring young people, first-time voters and historically disenfranchised communities of colour to sign up. Holzer’s black bandana, for example, is emblazoned simply with “Let me stand”, while emerging Los Angeles artist Victoria Cassinova urges: “Rise up. Vote.”

The bandanas ($35 each or as sets, from $175 for five) will be released in two drops on eBay; the first eight launched yesterday, while the remaining seven will go live on 1 September. Proceeds will be divided between three organisations – Mijente, Rise, and Woke Vote – which work to educate, register and mobilise voters. ebay.com/artistsbandtogether

Limbo magazine 
Limbo, edited by How To Spend It writer Francesca Gavin, was inaugurated earlier this year as a “time capsule of artistic and cultural production under lockdown. It’s about the state we’re in, with all profits supporting out-of-work artists and creatives.” This includes the contributors featured in the magazine and the staff who produce it – whose incomes were affected by Covid-19. The first issue also features contributions from Vivienne Westwood, Miranda July and Wolfgang Tillmans, while “community pricing rates” mean that the price of the publication starts at £9 for students and the unemployed. limbomagazine.com