Team José initially served as a way for José and Jen to keep friends and family updated while also advocating for others living with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). With his passing, we're transitioning to becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports people living with ALS to tell their stories, build community, and live with comfort and dignity.
🎨 sharing José's love of art
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Okay Team José friends, I was supposed to be volunteering at HANOCON this morning but came down with what is hopefully just a little cold. So I'm planning to use this unexpected gift of time to go ALL IN with the auction which I slowed down on in part because of HPR's fall membership drive which successfully concluded yesterday (which would have made José so proud). Over the past week or so, a ton more art has been added and I've been slowly adding stories as I sleuth and find them (if you see something in the collection and can add context, please message me!) The photo below was taken in Oct. 2019 when these pieces arrived in the mail. At that time, he shared: "While visiting the Orlando Science Center, I came across the art of Christina Eve and fell in love with her style. Classically-trained musician, visual artist, and synesthete Christina Eve has a rare neurological condition called synesthesia that merges the senses, allowing her to see colors and shapes when she hears music." The smaller of the two paintings is Reckoner's Requiem. From the artist: "As a synesthetic artist, I get excited when two different songs' visuals compliment each other. In this case, Radiohead provides the texture, and Future of Forestry dictates how that texture is shaped. Color schemes from both songs are incorporated." The larger piece is Pleasure Brand New. From the artist: "This piece was re-worked so many times. first it was a tree, then it wanted to be an alt-j song, then it was almost an anamanaguchi song. it's finally found its true self as lewis del mar's malt liquor." Over the remaining few days of the auction, I'll be posting photos and showcasing auction pieces on social media and sending one story per day via email until the auction ends on Tuesday, Sept. 30. If you see something you're curious about, feel free to send questions my way and I'll do my best to answer them. Help spreading the word to others who knew and loved José is incredibly helpful as it will ensure that more of these pieces find their way to folks who will welcome them into their homes and have a nice remembrance of him while also supporting his legacy at HPR where the proceeds will be directed. Here's the auction link: Also, a few people have asked about ways to support me and I had initially included that in the auction description but opted to remove that completely and focus on our efforts to fulfill José's wishes. in gratitude, |
Team José | #TeamJosé
Team José initially served as a way for José and Jen to keep friends and family updated while also advocating for others living with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). With his passing, we're transitioning to becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports people living with ALS to tell their stories, build community, and live with comfort and dignity.
Sharing one more update regarding the recent online auction to share the happy news that we met our goal! Since the auction ended, SEVEN more pieces from José's art collection have been claimed which has brought the total proceeds to just over $5,000–the goal amount we hoped to add to the FAJARDO STUDENT INTERNSHIP FUND at Hawai‘i Public Radio. Thank you to everyone who made this possible! Since there's a continued slow but steady trickle of inquiries about the art that remains, the page with...
Annddd… that's a wrap! To everyone who bid, shared, commented, sent messages, won something, or made a direct gift to HPR in José's memory, THANK YOU. While there is much I wish I could have done differently that would have required more energy and brain power than I currently have on tap, I'm incredibly happy with our results. As of today, with a few contributions still pending, we raised $4,630.68. While this is a little short of our goal, we still have some items that were not bid on in...
From our early dating life through our travels, José and I shared a love of museums. I think this was the first photo I took of him viewing art and it quickly became a thing. I have dozens of images like this of him in his "art viewing stance" - and while this first one was captured unbeknownst to him, it became an inside joke for us + the camera. As of this moment, we've entered the final seven hours of the auction (77% to goal!) and I'm going to try to share a few more photos of him today...